#going through red dragon AND hannibal to find one

[gallavichsreddie1128]

The Notes (Hannibal/Will)

Description: Y/N finds proof that Will is cheating on her with Hannibal.

Word Count:1,804k

Author’s note: I am going to C2E2 tomorrow to meet Mads and Hugh so I will not be posting a pic tomorrow. I will post another one later today that will be for tomorrow.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the note, well notes that Hannibal and Will had been writing to each other. They weren’t just friendly notes that just friends write to fill each other in on how life was going. They were notes that lovers wrote to each other that told a story. A story of what they did and wanted to do to each other when they saw each other again. Her eyes skimmed the words that Will, her husband, wrote to Hannibal.

He was in love with him and though she tried to push it in the back of her head, she always knew. She always knew that she would never be good enough for him or like Hannibal for that matter. And Hannibal loved him back. Of course he did. This wasn’t something that was in her head. This was real life and she was reading it on paper.

Tears streamed down her face as she realized that Will was lying to her. Will had told her that it was in the past and that he didn’t love Hannibal like that. She was hesitant to believe him but she did. Now she just felt stupid. This man who was confirmed to be the killer and was in jail for it came into their life and fucked up their marriage. She knew that love didn’t have options and that it wasn’t a choice but lying was and that’s all her husband did to her. “Maybe you shouldn’t go, Will. It’s been three years.” She said to him as they sat in bed talking about how Jack came by and told him there were more murders and that he needed his help.

Y/N hated Jack too. He was a part of the issue and that led her husband in the arms of Hannibal Lecter. Y/N wanted to be a supporting wife but couldn’t be when she knew that if he left he would be right back in Hannibal’s arms. So when he left she searched the place for any sort of evidence that gave into her thoughts or proved her wrong. Sadly, she wasn’t proven wrong, she was proven right. Some of the notes were from when Will was in jail all those years ago and some were from recently. They all said the same thing, just written differently. Her husband was in love with someone else. 

When the Red Dragon found out that Will had a wife he was more than eager to take the one thing that he loved away from him. But like Y/N, he didn’t realize that his wife was just a pawn. Y/N thought about letting him kill her just to teach Will a lesson. See if Will even cared for her at all or if he just acted like he did. Would he cry when she died? Would he regret what he did? Would he realize that he made the biggest mistake of his life? It was tempting but she couldn’t let that happen. So as she lays in the hospital wounded Will is by her side holding her hand and praying that she’s okay.

She was but once she opened her eyes and saw him sleeping in the chair beside her, she had a whole new outcome on the situation. She squeezed his hand to let him know she was awake. He jumped up a bit and gave a heartful smile to her that gave her butterflies. She loved that smile, god she loved that smile but it didn’t feel real. “I’m so glad. You’re okay.” He told her with tears in his eyes.

She wondered if those tears were for her or for the guilt that he felt for everything he did and caused. “I shouldn’t have gone. This is all my fault.” He said through tears. She looked at him. He was right, it was his fault. All of it, everything. He put her in danger all because he was in love with Hannibal and couldn’t stay away. So as he lies to her, she lies to him. “No it wasn’t. Jack was the one that approached you with the case. You were just doing your job.” She said and squeezed his hand again. The small smile she gave him was as good as she could. She couldn’t conjure up a real smile. Maybe it was the physical pain or the mental pain. 

Her and the dogs were back safe at the house and it seemed as if that was all Will could ever ask for. He looked so happy to have his family back and okay. She almost thought it was real, but then remembered everything else. He leaned down and kissed her. He kissed her like he loved her and that she was the only thing in the world that mattered. Those kisses were the best. They were full of life and love. But in the back of her mind the kiss was just a coverup to distract her from everything. She figured that Will knew that she wasn’t happy and that she might catch on. He wasn’t aware though that she did in fact catch on. But she kissed him back, playing into his game. What they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. 

Will was gone again and told her it would be the last time. The last time he worked a case, the last time he would see Hannibal. She almost laughed in his face. She knew that there wouldn’t ever be a last time. In 3 more years something would come up and Jack would be back at their doorstep asking Will for help and Will would agree, not to be helpful but to see Hannibal. His one true love.

She sat at the kitchen with a glass of wine as she read the notes they wrote to each other over and over again. She memorized every line and every word that they said to each other. Poetic really she thought. Hannibal really did have a way with words. She stopped crying days ago about it. Realizing that tears weren’t going to help. She got up from the table and left all the notes scattered about and the wine glass too. She put on some shoes and left the house. She was going to find them and catch them in the act. She was going to scream at Will and confront him for lying to her.

She was driving way above the speed limit but didn’t care. Will had told her where he would be with Hannibal and she went there. As she was driving she heard shooting. If she wasn’t so mad and in her head she probably would have freaked out. She parked her car and got out and walked to where the noise was. From a distance she could see her husband and Hannibal jump out of the van that was tipped over. She watched as Hannibal walked up to a police car and pulled the body out of the car and got in. Will had also got in the car making her quickly run back to her car to follow them.

She didn’t wanna make it too obvious that she was following them so when Hannibal pulled into this nice huge place she had kept driving but pulled into another place. She got out of the car and walked in the direction of the house. She knew that she would catch them in the act and maybe more. She wasn’t worried about them seeing her anymore. As she neared the house she heard a gunshot. She jumped for a second startled by the noise and wondered if it came from that house. Did Hannibal kill Will? She wondered as she walked faster to the house. She wasn’t worried if that was the case or if it was the other way around. She was tired of feeling like that when he wasn’t even in love with her, probably never was. She reached the house just in time and walked through the door quietly as she heard noises. She let out a silent gasp as she watched Hannibal and Will fight another man, together.

The guy looked familiar to her but she couldn’t place where. She saw that her husband was deeply wounded as was Hannibal. They were on the patio and she watched with wide eyes. Will had a knife in this other man’s stomach and slashed it vertically through his abdomen like Hannibal did to him years ago. If she wasn't shocked by the scene she would have laughed. The irony in that. Hannibal tore out a part of this guy’s throat with his teeth and Hannibal fell off his back and onto the ground. The guy fell too and looked at Will. Hannibal got to his feet and went over to Will.

Y/N walked closer to watch as Will took his hand and clung onto him by the edge of what she presumed was a cliff. They were hugging each other and almost kissed a few times. What stopped them? She didn’t understand why they didn't kiss. That would have been the perfect moment to kiss. “See. This is all I've ever wanted for you, Will. For the both of us.” Hannibal said, looking down at the man. “It’s beautiful.” Will said. They both looked at each other and finally kissed. Will had kissed Hannibal like he kissed his wife the day she came home from the hospital. Her eyes were dry as she watched. No longer feeling any emotion. She watched as they kissed passionately.

Like two lovers that finally got their chance. Which they did. Y/N walked onto the patio and towards them slowly. She didn’t make a sound as she stared at them having their moment. She didn’t stop walking and with everything in her body, all her anger, all her hurt and sadness she had managed to push them off the cliff. She didn’t even look as they fell from the cliff and ended up in the sea. She didn’t care if they were alive or dead. She stared at her wedding ring and all the good memories from their marriage popped in her head. All the kisses, the love, the laugh, the good times before Hannibal came along hit her like a brick. She shed a single tear and slipped off the ring. Without a second thought or hesitation she threw the ring off the cliff. She closed her eyes and gave a deep breath before looking over the cliff. She didn’t see anything but the body of water. No ring, No bodies, No Hannibal or Will. She looked one last time before turning around and walking away, leaving all the memories of her and Will, whether it was good or bad, she left them and the lies behind.  

[bonearenaofmyskull]

Hi

I am new to the Hannibal fandom and stumbled upon Ur metas . I have read Ur very old metas too from like 2013 .

But I just wanna ask please don't consider it rude but when did u start shipping hannigram or believing in hannigram. It seems tho reading some of Ur 2015 post u didn't necessarily want Will and Hannibal together.

Just a little confused that's it . U don't have to answer if u don't want to.

Have a good day 😊

Sorry this is old, but I'm trying to clean out my inbox. IDK what posts you're talking about from 2015, but my general attitude would have been that after a season where they spent most of their time apart, there ought to be at least one season where they spend most of their time together. Past that it becomes a matter of where the writing would have taken the show. And I don't do shipping outside of the context of canon, by and large.

I think there might be a lot of people out there who would be benefitted to remember that people don't all ship the same ways and for the same ends, regardless what's in canon. Some people are going to ship Hannigram and "want Will and Hannibal together," as you say here, and some of them are going to put them in a light-hearted coffee shop au where even the coffee isn't people, and some others are going to want to rewrite them meeting each other and going through betrayal arcs over and over and over again, and some others are going to want murder husbands all day everyday.

Personally, I like their fraught relationship as it appears on the show. All of my fics focus on that fraught quality. That's always where my investment was since the day I picked up Red Dragon back in 1992 and read their meeting where Hannibal told Will, "The reason you caught me is that we're just alike." And those words obviously hit Bryan Fuller in exactly the same way as they hit me, and he took them and ran with them. The show had to earn my belief that it was invested in this concept from both perspectives (from what it suggests about Will Graham individually and what it suggests about their singular connection to each other), but once it had done this thoroughly, I bought in.

I'm not someone who was born and raised in m/m shipping fandom, and I haven't developed tastes that match. By this I mean that when I start a new show, I don't cast about looking for two men that I can find a reason to put together purely for the sake of sighing and blushing about them. I didn't even know what the term "shipping" meant in this context before Hannibal.

So if by asking when I started shipping them, you mean, when was I invested in their fraught relationship, then it was 1992. If you mean when did the show convince me their relationship would fully play out that fraught dynamic and present the characters in ways that I'd fully approve of...maybe about "Buffet Froid"? Ish? But then I still didn't have any concept of shipping or was fully convinced that the show was invested in the ship and on board myself until maybe..."Shiizakana"?

Like I said, a show has to do the heavy lifting or I don't ship it: I don't grab characters willy-nilly for fill-in-the-blank shipping. There are character relationships I like better than others because there are characters I like better than others, but if there isn't at least canon yearning, I ain't in. And that's because I'm into fraught relationships and yearning. If they're gonna earn me, they gotta yearn me.

So yeah...I wanted more show. That means I'm not invested in them ending up together after the end of the show. I don't care about after the end of the show at all, except insofar as it reflects what the ending would have been. It's what's on the show that matters to me, and for that, I just need the two of them to be culty and weird about each other. I had reasonable faith in the show's ability to maintain that, so yeah, I shipped it. Even if I didn't do it the way others did.

[the-everqueen]

Going with a Hannibal theme for this one 👀

001: 5 favorite ships (canon or non-canon)

002: Hannigram - Things you look for in fics

003: Beverly Katz

5 favorite ships katz and dogs - i feel like not enough people recognize how much Will clearly trusts Bev (he calls her when he finds Georgia, he asks her to look into Hannibal while he's in prison). she's the only person who seems to clock that he's Not Okay in s1 and who also tries to reach out to him on "neutral" territory (giving him shooting advice, engaging in morbid jokes, telling him to talk to her if things get to be too much). she doesn't infantilize him (Jack, Alana) or treat him as a curio (Hannibal). he's not a means to an end for her, he's a person. meanwhile Will doesn't treat her with the same rudeness he gives Zeller; again, he trusts her insights and reaches back to her. also can we all notice that he doesn't do the mirroring thing with her?? i feel like it's big when Will doesn't default to either of his masking personas (rude, aloof professor or empath who reflects you back to yourself).

will/molly - in part because i have huge affection for red dragon even as i acknowledge all the ways it's Bad. but i dislike when fandom acts like Will's entire marriage to Molly was a lie. or like Molly is either Too Badass for Will or Too Soft for him. she trusted him enough to make him part of her life, they stayed together for years, they adopted more dogs together. she speaks his language! meanwhile i think it's a rather...unfair assessment of Will to act like he's only using Molly as this clutch for normalcy. he KNOWS he's never going to be "normal," he could have closed himself off utterly after the entire Verger arc. but he found someone he could trust in Molly, which tells us a lot about her even if the show doesn't really explore her as a character. (i think their conversations in the book and the ways that Will "finds" pieces of her in the mundane aspects of his work are evidence of a loving relationship.)

abigail hobbs/freddie lounds - i haven't found, like, a fic that explores what i'd want out of this, but the gist is that Abigail gets treated as a child in a lot of ways, which i think is unfair to her. yes, she is barely a legal adult. yes, she is naive and sheltered. but also she has keen survival instincts and she recognizes the meta-level operations of Bryan Fuller's Hannibal, i.e. it's about the story that you're telling. Abigail as a ghost in the machine, Freddie as the "vessel" that gives her coherence and meaning both in relation to her dad and separate from Hannibal. they're using each other! it's toxic! but also Freddie is the only person who really treats Abigail as an adult. (plus you KNOW Abigail has some like, repressed queer feelings. she ate and honored ALL those girls she helped murder.)

will/hannibal - like. it's the arc of the show Fuller created. i have eyes.

...are there five ships i like in Hannibal? huh. i don't actually LIKE alana/margot in the Fullerverse, because it erases the butch masc aspect of book!Margot, which i think is so, so important in talking about Margot's queerness AND her abuse (she turns to bodybuilding as a means of defense, she ID's as butch and it's an intentional refusal of the girl her parents wanted her to be, as well as the "girl" she was). no one has sold me on bev/freddie yet, because Bev obviously hates Freddie and so much wlw content in the fandom tends to be "gentle soft femmes." idk. alana/will has potential but only if it's ALSO fucked up, because Will relies on Alana as a defense and Alana only ever sees Will as fundamentally broken.

things you look for in fics - hannigram it's been a second since i obsessively combed through the hannibal ao3 tag for fics. i can't do "soft" murder husbands content. i dislike fics where Hannibal gives Will positive language to define himself, because i think it's fundamentally ooc. Hannibal wants Will to be what Hannibal wants, which also happens to be a part of himself that Will actively represses (as opposed to accepting/working through/etc). their relationship is obsessive, it's manipulative, it has a body count.

unrelated to that but important to me: i have a low tolerance for uninterrogated misogyny in fics. both the Harris and the Fuller texts are full of sexist approaches to women, and it sometimes feels like the fandom (even years later, at a remove from when the show was premiering) dials that up to eleven without a second thought. so i'm hyper-critical of fics that position the women characters in the virgin/madonna/whore triad.

give me a character - beverly katz how i feel about this character: defensive, lmao. she's so interesting! the only woman in team sassy science AND she's a woman of color. non-whiteness is, uh, a super fraught position in the fullerverse, esp. hannibal. the fandom treated her like shit, Fuller arguably treated her like shit, justice for Bev Katz.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: will/bev has a soft spot in my heart. will/molly/bev is one more people should think about. bev/margot could've been so so good. bev/miriam??

my non-romantic otp for this character: i've seen team sassy science posed as a triad, but truly i do not see Bev having a romantic thing for either Zeller or Pierce, though i think she's fond of them as coworkers and friends.

my unpopular opinion about this character: she's the most nuanced female character, and her murder was both unnecessary on a narrative level and gross as a treatment of a nonwhite woman's body.

one thing i wish would have happened in canon: that she didn't get murdered as a deus ex machina! Bev is one of the main characters and she gets killed off-screen and then turned into a plot device as though she never mattered. when i die, i will find bryan fuller and haunt his ass!

my otp/ot3: i guess katz and dogs IS the hill i will die on.

[peppermintquartz]

Chilton makes Arthur's skin crawl, and only partly because Chilton is very much a patchwork man sewn together with other people's skin.

It's the avaricious malice in Chilton's eyes on hearing that the FBI has Hannibal Lecter that disgusts Arthur. He keeps it professional, however, asking questions he and Eames will need answers to before Eames goes into Lecter's mind once more.

"They are... violent men," Chilton supplies, "and they do not... discriminate. They have hurt... each other... as much as they... have hurt... and killed others."

The patchwork man exhales, his chest rattling with the effort. Being set on fire has hurt his throat and lungs; the air back in Baltimore was too cold and too dry for him. Here in Florida, the persistent humidity eases the abused linings of his respiratory system.

"Who is more proactive in causing harm?" Eames prompts. He's even leaning forwards in his seat, as if utterly entranced.

Arthur's seen that pose before. Eames does it when he finds someone who is so unique that he can't help but try to isolate everything that makes the person memorable. They have another five hours spread out over three days for Eames to make his study of the disfigured man in the bed.

As Chilton recounts how Will Graham used to interact with him and with Hannibal during Graham's stay in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Arthur tries to view Chilton through Eames' eyes.

I would focus on the complexion, the point man decides. The part under his chin has a reddish tint compared to his left cheek, and a few of the sutures that had affixed the skin to his brow had healed poorly enough to pull it too taut on one side.

"And he sacrificed me, to bait the Red Dragon," Chilton spits out. He is panting, clearly exhausted. The nurse hurries back in and reattaches a breathing mask over Chilton's face, before firmly shooing Arthur and Eames out of the room.

Arthur looks at his shorthand scrawl. "Would you need intel on the Dolarhyde case? I can put in the request right now; we should get it by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Be a dear and get all of it sorted for me," says Eames, only half-listening. It's clear he is trying to sift out the essence of the relationship between Lecter and Graham from Chilton's vindictive retelling. His clever fingers are twitching, almost a mimicry of Chilton's bony digits grasping weakly at the edges of his blanket. He turns to the nurse and starts chatting with her in rapid-fire Spanish.

Arthur walks into the living room and sits down to send the necessary texts. There will be forms and administrative bullshit, but Will Graham is the FBI's priority after all, so he will get what he needs by tomorrow.

The phone suddenly rings. It makes Arthur jump. The nurse runs over and picks it up. "Hello?" Then she frowns and hands it to Arthur. "It's for you."

"Thank you. Gracias," he replies, thrown somewhat off balance, but shakes himself mentally. The FBI knows they're here; they're just checking up on their progress. "Hello."

The voice on the other end is a calm, even baritone, with a hint of southern drawl. "Good day, Arthur. My name is Will Graham. You and your partner are going to help me break my husband out of federal custody."

[fatalism-and-villainy]

One thing I love about the Abigail plot, from the episodes I’ve seen, is how much Hannibal is driving the parental identification. He goes “huh, I’m catching feelings, guess I have to go the whole nine yards and bring a child in to make this a good normative family structure” when NO ONE asked him to do this. He declares fatherhood and Abigail (who has survived her entire life by aggressively daughtering at murderers) and Will (constantly living vicariously through other people’s experiences) just go along with it. It’s a pantomime of the nuclear family as much as it’s a reaffirmation of it, and like all the ironic tableaux in the show it ends in violence.

I'm pretty sure this ask came in as a response to this post, which I made.... back in December, lol. So, apologies on that.

That said, my personal general media pet peeves aside, I agree that the way the dynamic is engineered through Hannibal and his manipulations, and the resulting bloodbath, is quite interesting. Though I wouldn't say Abigail "just goes along with it" - she sees Hannibal as a trusted mentor figure, rather than a father figure, and is unaware of what's coming - and then goes along with his plan for playing family with Will when she has no choice.

That's something that's compellingly tragic about her character arc - the way she can't escape from her family structure of origin, that it just gets reconstructed around her with different players. And I love that about Mizumono - the way it parallels the first episode, down to Will stepping over Mrs. Hobbs at the front door, the way this time he can't save Abigail from the father figure that she loves and is terrified of all at once. I love the imagery of them both bleeding out on the floor. But... idk, at the same time, that's also what bothers me about it.

Because I think the weight of that tragedy - her lack of freedom, her being forced to stay in the same role she started out in - gets swallowed up by the symbolism of her death as it relates to Will and Hannibal and their relationship. It's not just a matter of her being made into a daughter-symbol in-story, which would be a fine tragedy on its own merits - it's that it imo gets reproduced on a writing level. She's so under-utilized in season 2 that that's the inescapable impression. Her own characterization that I find so compelling in season 1, like her struggles with legacy and being complicit in violence to protect herself, her deliberate accentuation of her own very real fear to deflect suspicion away from herself - that's all gone, in favour of what she represents to Will and Hannibal. Season 3 has that flashback to her relationship with Hannibal, which has some interesting character exploration for her, but on a narrative level, that flashback mostly exists to expand more on the theme of family as it relates to Will and Hannibal's unresolved relationship, as it parallels the Red Dragon case.

Which is to say, I generally agree with you that the "pantomime" of the family structure is interesting (and interesting in drawing inspiration from Interview with the Vampire, lol). And I absolutely enjoy the mindfuckery of how that gets put together (along with the horror of Abigail's continued enmeshment in it), and the aesthetics and the tragedy of how it falls apart. But the sidelining of Abigail for that purpose does bother me, and it's one of the few major issues I have with the show (and structural critiques I would make of season 2).

[distopea]

5 Pieces of Fiction that Influenced You as a Writer and Why?

1 - The Departed by Martin Scorsese

I think it is probably my favorite Scorsese movie. I have watched it several times, and I can't hide that I have been profoundly influenced by it for the creation of my mafia world. I won't spoil the plot twist of the story, but it gives you good hints regarding the "harmless" looking like mafia in your neighborhood, along with the secret schemes going on and how everything can snow ball. 

I do believe that it's a very good modern representation of how the mafia has been working in the shadows and in the daylight. Plus, the performance of the actors and the scenario were right on point. It also gives a wonderful perspective regarding how it feels to be an undercover cop, or a spy for the mafia. Plus, the social "pressure" regarding your family affiliation and the expectations of crime lords because you were born in a certain neighbourhood is perfectly represented. 

2 - Journey to the End of the Night by Celine

To be honest, I was traumatized by this book when I was a teenager. It was the first time that I had faced the horror of war and how one tortured author who survived WWII could express his pain and traumatism through a vivid description of terrible events. Far from the usual heroism of the soldiers, reading this pushes you on an overly depressing journey with misery, PTSD, war crimes, cowardice and such... 

For me, this book was a life-changing one. It was an explosion of truth regarding an event that could never be fully exposed and Celine, the author, was truly so good at writing it. It sticks to you like a second skin, and it has pushed me to be more open regarding dark themes and to never underestimate the power of words whenever you wish to shamble someone through a story. 

3 - Hannibal by Brian Fuller

My favorite show, in every way possible. I have been following the show since it aired for the first time, and I was (I am) genuinely obsessed with it. I rewatch it every year. It's truly the most intimate depiction of Hannibal Lecter and his psyche, and I have also rediscovered Will Graham through the interpretation of Hugh Dancy. 

In the book, or in Red Dragon, Graham is far less complex. He's too morally good and there's no sensation of breaking point at all. In this hypnotical dance, not only crime and horror become artistically pleasant, but you support Hannibal through his journey. I can't express how much I find every dialogue and scene so intelligent, and years after the end of the show, I'm still surprised to discover new interpretations and implicit meaning. Truly a masterpiece. 

4 - The Shining by Stephen King

Yes, definitely a classic. We can't say the contrary, even if I'm a little bit lazy for picking such a well-known novel, I have my reasons for this one. It's not about the story at all, but there's something so good and addictive about watching how madness is perceived through the first person. 

What I really adore in this book is basically the inner thoughts of the character, Jack, who's slowly losing perception of what is morally acceptable and what is not. Paranoia is getting the best of his character, and all his flaws are expressed brutally, even if, as the "hero" of the book, he doesn't see what he is doing wrong. His slow change is truly impressive and definitely well written, which is quite inspiring whenever you want to write about someone who doesn't see his own troubles (just like Vex, Marlo, Diego and such...)

5 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Alright, that's my guilty pleasure right here. Whether we talk about the movie (with Keira Knightley), or the book itself, I have watched it hundreds of times and probably read it 5. 

I believe that Jane Austen had a gift for writing bold and impressive women, and the character of Lizzie still feels incredibly modern despite being written centuries ago. She's vivid, profound, mature and yet she has such a huge capacity for self-introspection and understanding of her own flaws. Her relationship with her father has always echoed the one I have with mine and I'm in love with her boldness, her freedom of mind and speech and her everlasting quest for culture, knowledge and humanity. This book has always been inspiring for developing my characters fully, twisting them into my little snow ball until they would feel just natural and palpable... Just like Lizzie can be. 

I'm also always inspired by the people creating around me, but I special shout out to my two pals Rain and Vera for that ❤️

tagged by : @nezumivc103221 (thank you!) tagging: @cantuscorvi ; @royaletiquette ; @tximidity ; @sansloii ; @nvrcmplt and whoever wishes to do it ✨

[prometheankat]

I Read Every Hannibal Lecter Book (Review)

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard of the character Hannibal Lecter. Since his introduction in 1981, he’s gained a sense of infamy over the years, resulting in multiple movie and tv adaptations. Whether you first became aware of him through one of these or through the book series he originated from, it’s clear that something about him has captivated audiences for over forty years. So I went all the way back to the beginning to find out why. In this review, I’ll be covering all four of the original Hannibal Lecter books written by Thomas Harris. While not all of the books take place in chronological order, I will be reviewing them in the order they were published. As a precaution, there will be spoilers for every book mentioned and I will also be talking about sensitive subjects, including but not limited to: cannibalism and murder. Please read at your own discretion. 

If you prefer to listen to your book reviews, this material is also in a youtube video you can access here: https://youtu.be/LKXrKhkO1vU

To start talking about Hannibal Lecter, we have to go back to his very first appearance. Red Dragon was first published in 1981 and focuses on former FBI profiler Will Graham as he hunts down a serial killer known as “The Tooth Fairy.” While this novel is most notable for introducing Hannibal Lecter, who only appears during a small portion of the book, it is also a remarkable read all on its own. The name was inspired by artist William Blake’s watercolor paintings, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun which depict various scenes from the Book of Revelation. These paintings are also an important part of the book’s plot, starting a series trend of the importance of outside inspiration and research to the books. Harris does a startling amount of research, from the more expected classes and interviews with the FBI to various pieces of art, literature, history, and science that he draws on for inspiration. It’s common for the acknowledgements of a Hannibal Lecter book to reference other media and the various people he consulted while working on the project. This was easily one of my favorite parts of the books, because I got to learn about a new and interesting topic along with Harris, from Italian Literature to post-occupation France to African moths. You never know what you’re going to get. One of the things I found most interesting in Red Dragon was the incredible detail on the different aspects of FBI investigations in the 1980s, which was fascinating to read today. But outside of the research he does, where Harris really shines is in creating remarkable characters. While the easiest and most prominent example of this is Hannibal Lecter, whose infamy speaks for itself, the far more interesting characters in Red Dragon are Will Graham and Francis Dolarhyde. Throughout the book, Harris switches perspectives between different characters, allowing us to spend time inside the minds of serial killers and FBI profilers alike. It was fascinating to me to read how Graham thinks about crime scenes or how Dolarhyde’s backstory turned him into a killer. Harris has a knack for creating complex and interesting characters. This extends to the relationships between these characters, such as when Dolarhyde falls for his coworker, Reba McClane. The exploration of their relationship and how it changes the characters is handled incredibly well throughout the book. 

This great characterization continues in the second and arguably most famous book in the Hannibal Lecter series, The Silence of the Lambs. Published in 1988, the book follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling as she seeks the help of Hannibal Lecter on catching “Buffalo Bill,” the FBI’s nickname for a serial killer known for skinning his victims. Starling uses Lecter’s advice and her own intuition to catch Buffalo Bill on her own, whose real name ends up being Jame Gumb, before he can kill his latest victim, the Tennessee senator’s daughter. The novel ends with Starling gaining acclaim at the FBI and Lecter escaping from custody, telling Starling in a letter that he has no plans to call on her because “the world is more interesting with her in it.” This book is really Harris at his best, the pacing is perfectly balanced and the story keeps you hooked from the beginning to the end. I struggled to find a good focus for this paragraph because there isn’t much to say about this book besides the fact that it’s just so good. I could talk about the masterful use of suspense or the oscar-winning film adaptation, but most everything about this book has already been said. If there’s anything you should take from this needlessly lengthy review, it’s to read The Silence of the Lambs. It’s just something you have to experience for yourself. But despite all the amazing things one could say about this book, my favorite will always be the character of Clarice Starling. Where do I begin with Clarice? This book and Hannibal (the other book, not the NBC series), despite what their names and summaries and pop-culture references might suggest, are not about Hannibal Lecter. He’s just an important character in Clarice’s story and her development. Their relationship forces her to look within and discover new parts of herself which help her rise to the occasion. Clarice is the heart and center of the story. Without her, the book wouldn’t be complete. My all-time favorite scene in the book is after the senator takes Clarice off the case, she refuses to give up and goes to where Lecter has been relocated to try to get one more piece of information out of him. The scene perfectly encapsulates Clarice’s drive and strong moral compass. Her empathy is evident as she pushes forward not for the senator or the FBI or for Lecter, but for the victim she saw at the autopsy, and all the victims that came before her. For me, this scene cemented Clarice as a character I just couldn’t stop reading about. 

Her story, along with Lecter’s, continues in the third book of the series, eloquently titled just Hannibal. While The Silence of the Lambs remains an objectively better book, and probably the best in the series, this one is far more interesting to look at and analyze. Released in 1999, the novel takes place after The Silence of the Lambs and follows the same characters, namely Hannibal and Clarice. The best way to describe the plot is that of three narratives stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat. The first plotline introduced in the book follows Clarice and her struggles with the FBI as a drug raid gone wrong brings her under intense scrutiny from the public and from her superiors. We also learn that her once promising career has been sabotaged by her corrupt coworker, Paul Krendler, after she refused to sleep with him. We start the second plotline when Hannibal sends her a letter expressing his condolences and offering her advice, learning along the way that he has fled to Italy and is living under an assumed name. Alienated from the rest of the FBI, Jack Crawford puts Clarice in charge of apprehending Hannibal. Meanwhile, in the third and final plotline, we meet our main villain for this book, Mason Verger, a bed-ridden, wealthy sadistic pedophile. With the help of Sardinian assassins, he plots revenge on Hannibal for disfiguring him years earlier while acting as his therapist. The plan? To feed Hannibal to a new breed of pigs he created that will eat him alive, all while using Clarice as bait. Because of his immense wealth and power, Mason is able to offer a bounty on Hannibal, which is picked up by Italian Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi. When the kidnapping proves unsuccessful, with Hannibal disemboweling Pazzi, he flees to the United States and attempts to deliver a birthday gift to Clarice. While he is captured by Mason, Clarice pursues him but is shot by a tranquilizer dart and Hannibal carries her to safety. Mason is killed by his sister, Margot, and after acquiring his sperm so she can claim their whole inheritance, she pins the murder on Hannibal. The book doesn’t end there, but considering just how controversial the ending is, I’ll save it for the end of my analysis.

Opinions on this book are far more mixed than those which came before it. To get it out of the way, my main issue with this book is the pacing. While my summary of the events in Italy took barely two sentences, in the book it takes over two hundred pages. There’s far too much focus on the two characters carrying this plotline: Hannibal Lecter and Rinaldo Pazzi. Firstly, Hannibal doesn’t work well as a main character. The horror and intrigue that surrounded him and cemented his place in pop culture comes from his sparse appearances in the first book, all while primarily in captivity. Allowing him to roam the world freely and with more focus on him removes the interest. Although this is in some part necessary for the ending to work at all, this could be achieved to much better success by continuing to focus on Clarice. For large parts of the story, we drift away from her narrative, therefore losing the heart of the story. By continuing to use Hannibal as a supporting character in her story, it allows them both to develop without losing much of what makes Hannibal, well, Hannibal. Secondly, the Italy part drags on for far too long. Pazzi, while sometimes interesting, is not nearly enough to carry this plotline to completion. He really only works as a foil to Clarice, which does not warrant two hundred pages of this storyline. Throughout the book, both him and Clarice experience a disillusionment with their respective federal establishments, but react in very different ways. While Clarice sticks to her own sense of personal honor and moral code, continuing her character traits established in The Silence of the Lambs, Pazzi turns to greed and avarice, continuing the connection to his ancestor mentioned in the book. This also starts the themes of greed and taste that continue over the course of the book. When Clarice sets out to catch Hannibal, she uses his tastes in food, music, cars, and other luxuries to track him down. But Mason, while also significantly wealthy, has far more greed than taste. Not only is his role as a villain crucial for cementing these themes, he also serves as a way to further tie Hannibal and Clarice together. From his very introduction, he is described as something less than human, his demeanor consistently compared to deep sea creatures and the eel he keeps in his room. He is a monster who preys on children and continuously abuses his sister. Not only does this lessen Hannibal’s past crimes significantly, it also creates a comparison between his motives to Mason’s, who is motivated by both revenge and a sick pervertedness. His mission to capture and torture Hannibal turns a serial killer into someone the audience roots for against their better judgement. It also puts him and Clarice on the same team, both of them united against Mason physically and morally.

All of this builds up to the eventual ending, where after psychoactive drugs and communal brain-eating, Hannibal and Clarice become lovers and disappear together. You can understand why it was so controversial. I actually loved the ending. In my mind, the pieces for their relationship were planted way back in their first meeting. In The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal manipulates a man to kill himself after he insults Clarice, where he dies by quite literally eating his words, by which I mean his tongue. He also notices and is concerned when Clarice is injured, not to mention his line, “people will say we’re lovers.” Hannibal also does a good job building to their eventual relationship. Clarice loses the stability of the FBI in her life after being put on probation. Her only confidant there, Jack Crawford, grows closer and closer to retirement with each passing day. Her closest friend, Ardelia, has other friends and connections she can rely on, a life she can turn to if Clarice leaves. Losing her reliance and affection for institutions allows Clarice to grow, letting go of her childhood traumas, which allows her to embrace Hannibal as a lover. The previously mentioned brain-eating was also of one Paul Krendler, the aforementioned awful FBI employee who tormented Clarice, which makes the scene overall more cathartic than terrifying. My only issue with the ending is that it’s far too short. I could have used less time spent in Italy and far more time to focus on Clarice and Hannibal’s feelings changing and evolving after their escape from Mason Verger. While this book might just be my favorite in the Lecter series, I still think it could have used more Clarice Starling. Which is unfortunate, since the fourth and final book contains no Clarice at all. 

And so we end where we begin, as the last book chronicles the rise of the titular character, Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal Rising, released in 2006, is a prequel that explores the childhood and teen years of Hannibal, spanning from Lithuania during World War II to post-occupation France. As a child, Hannibal’s family was killed by a German dive bomber save for him and his sister, Mischa. When their family’s lodge was occupied by deserters, their lack of supplies led them to cannibalize Mischa. Hannibal has now lost all of his family, save for his uncle, who takes Hannibal to stay with him and his wife, Lady Murasaki, in France. Hannibal becomes a successful medical student and also carries out his first kill, a butcher who insulted his aunt. After remembering details about his sister's killers, he returns to Lithuania and begins a quest of revenge. In the process, he barely escapes the scrutiny of the french police, successfully avenges his sister, and loses the favor of Lady Murasaki. At the end of the book, he moves to the United States, beginning to resemble the character’s first appearance all the way back in Red Dragon. The origin of this book is complicated, to say the least. De Laurenttis, a producer on multiple Hannibal film adaptations, admits in an EW interview to telling Harris, “if you don’t do [the prequel], I will do it with someone else. . . I don’t want to lose this franchise. And the audience wants it.” If this assertion is true, it certainly puts Harris in a tricky spot. Write a prequel you never wanted to write in the first place or lose one of the most important characters you’ve ever created? You and I already know the answer. While the book itself isn’t spectacular, I much prefer the story coming from the mind of the original author rather than someone like De Laurenttis turning it into another overdone horror franchise. With Harris, it still feels like a Hannibal Lecter novel. The beginning was very boring, which is partially fueled by my lack of interest in the German occupation of Lithuania, but it got better the further along I got. You just have to stick with it. While the story is not nearly as remarkable as its predecessors, there is still some interest in Hannibal’s revenge schemes or his incredibly complicated relationship with his aunt. One of my favorite parts was the continued use of birds as a metaphor, contrasting the frozen birds Hannibal sees his captors eating at the beginning of the novel to him releasing exotic birds many years later, showing a complete arc of his character that turns him into what we know as Hannibal Lecter. It also ties back to a comment he made about Clarice in Hannibal, in which he compares her to a type of bird that completes intense dives, further cementing their two characters together. Overall, the book does a good job at orienting itself amidst the rest of the series, not standing too at odds with what we already know and love. 

I certainly loved reading these books. I wish I had some sort of snappy takeaway from this, something to show for the two thousand words I wrote about books that largely came out before I was born. I could say I learned how to write better characters, better suspense, better books. I learned how to create a mind palace and hypothetically train pigs to eat men alive. I read hundreds of pages about beheadings, disembowelings, and skinnings. I found a connection to these characters. But the impact these books have had on me and on thousands of others is more than words. There’s something ephemeral about them that has captured me in their web, something that has turned a side character into an international phenomenon. If you, like me, want to know what makes Hannibal Lecter so infamous, you just have to experience it for yourself. Read the books, I promise you won’t regret it. 

[cstarling]

okay, here's my take on where c.larice fits each season -

season 1. she's a trainee at the academy. she's almost graduated. she knows jack from lectures he's given, and he's picked her brain on a few cases, since she's at the top of her class and is excelling above everyone else. her fellow students don't like that she seems to be becoming jack's favorite, and so she's often alienated from them, but she doesn't care. she literally only has one goal by being here, and she's achieving that goal. by the end of season 1, she's graduated and jack recruits her for his team.

season 2. jack asks clarice to be his new hound, since will has been detained for murder. she's still new to this, but she catches on fairly quickly. she's immediately thrown into the deep end, and jack starts to realize she's kind of a handful, as she likes to go off by herself and make accusations where there isn't any evidence, aka working on a hunch ( even though she ends up being right every time ). as a distrusting person by nature, she doesn't trust hannibal or will that much, but she also doesn't believe will was the cause of the murders he was accused of. which is proven later on. she continues to work for jack, beside will, even though they do not get along, at first. she also intends to get closer to lecter, as she believes that will was right and that there's at least something off about him. by the time they find out that hannibal is actually the ripper, it's too late. clarice shows up to find alana and will almost dead, and abigail actually dead this time. she waits there until jack and the paramedics arrive and then she waits in the hospital to make sure her colleagues make it through the night before she starts searching for where hannibal ( and bedelia ) might be. she's there the night hannibal surrenders himself at will's house, right beside jack.

season 3. with hannibal locked up and will refusing to see or talk to him, jack brings clarice to try and get hannibal's help. it's a long process, but she goes twice a week for years to speak with lecter, gaining his help with cases and, in return, giving him information about herself. jack doesn't like where this connection seems to be going, but it's working, so far, so he doesn't stop it. by the time will comes around and is finally willing to ask hannibal for information about the red dragon, clarice starts to distance herself from hannibal, realizing that she may have gotten too deep into his mind ( and him into hers ). by the time she hears about hannibal's escape ( will at his aid ), and they make it to the top of the cliff, the two men are already gone, but despite the improbability of their survival, clarice knows they aren't dead. another one of her hunches.

post canon. clarice either figures out where the two of them went or ( if we plot ) hannibal and / or will have given a hint, only for clarice as to where they are. she's still working under jack, but she's pulled back a bit from the bau, so when she says she's going on sabbatical, he doesn't bat an eye. she makes sure to cover her tracks as she travels to find them, though she isn't sure what to expect when she does find them. she can't be sure she'll be able to turn them in once she catches up.

[deerydear]

FOREWORD TO A FATAL INTERVIEW

"I want to tell you the circumstances in which I first encountered Hannibal Lecter, M.D. In the fall of 1979, owing to an illness in my family, I returned home to the Mississippi Delta and remained there eighteen months. I was working on Red Dragon. My neighbor in the village of Rich kindly gave me the use of a shotgun house in the center of a vast cotton field, and there I worked, often at night. To write a novel, you begin with what you can see and then you add what came before and what came after. Here in the village of Rich, Mississippi, working under difficult circumstances, I could see the investigator Will Graham in the home of the victim family, in the house where they all died, watching the dead family’s home movies. I did not know at the time who was committing the crimes. I pushed to find out, to see what came before and what came after. I went through the home, the crime scene, in the dark with Will and could see no more and no less than he could see. Sometimes at night I would leave the lights on in my little house and walk across the flat fields. When I looked back from a distance, the house looked like a boat at sea, and all around me the vast Delta night. I soon became acquainted with the semi-feral dogs who roamed free across the fields in what was more or less a pack. Some of them had casual arrangements with the families of farm workers, but much of the time they had to forage for themselves. In the hard winter months with the ground frozen and dry, I started giving them dog food and soon they were going through fifty pounds of dog food a week. They followed me around, and they were a lot of company—tall dogs, short ones, relatively friendly dogs and big rough dogs you could not touch. They walked with me in the fields at night and when I couldn’t see them, I could hear them all around me, breathing and snuffling along in the dark. When I was working in the cabin, they waited on the front porch, and when the moon was full they would sing.

Standing baffled in the vast fields outside my cabin in the heart of the night, the sound of breathing all around me, my vision still clouded with the desk lamp, I tried to see what had happened at the crime scene. All that came to my dim sight were loomings, intimations, the occasional glow when a retina not human reflected the moon. There was no question that something had happened. You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up. It’s all there and you just have to find it. Will Graham had to ask somebody, he needed some help and he knew it. He knew where he had to go, long before he let himself think about it. I knew Graham had been severely damaged in a previous case. I knew he was terribly reluctant to consult the best source he had. At the time, I myself was accruing painful memories every day, and in my evening’s work I felt for Graham. So it was with some trepidation that I accompanied him to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and there, maddeningly, before we could get down to business, we encountered the kind of fool you know from conducting your own daily business, Dr. Frederick Chilton, who delayed us for two or three interminable days. I found that I could leave Chilton in the cabin with the lights on and look back at him from the dark, surrounded by my friends the dogs. I was invisible then, out there in the dark, the way I am invisible to my characters when I’m in a room with them and they are deciding their fates with little or no help from me. Finished with the tedious Chilton at last, Graham and I went on to the Violent Ward and the steel door slammed shut behind us with a terrific noise. Will Graham and I, approaching Dr. Lecter’s cell. Graham was tense and I could smell fear on him. I thought Dr. Lecter was asleep and I jumped when he recognized Will Graham by scent without opening his eyes. I was enjoying my usual immunity while working, my invisibility to Chilton and Graham and the staff, but I was not comfortable in the presence of Dr. Lecter, not sure at all that the doctor could not see me. Like Graham, I found, and find, the scrutiny of Dr. Lecter uncomfortable, intrusive, like the humming in your thoughts when they X-ray your head. Graham’s interview with Dr. Lecter went quickly, in real time at the speed of swordplay, me following it, my frantic notes spilling into the margin and over whatever surface was uppermost on my table. I was worn out when it was over—the incidental clashes and howls of an asylum rang on in my head, and on the front porch of my cabin in Rich thirteen dogs were singing, seated with their eyes closed, faces upturned to the full moon. Most of them crooned their single vowel between O and U, a few just hummed along. I had to revisit Graham’s interview with Dr. Lecter a hundred times to understand it and to get rid of the superfluous static, the jail noises, the screaming of the damned that had made some of the words hard to hear. I still didn’t know who was committing the crimes, but I knew for the first time that we would find out, and that we would arrive at him. I also knew the knowledge would be terribly, perhaps tragically, expensive to others in the book. And so it turned out.

Years later when I started The Silence of the Lambs, I did not know that Dr. Lecter would return. I had always liked the character of Dahlia Iyad in Black Sunday and wanted to do a novel with a strong woman as the central character. So I began with Clarice Starling and, not two pages into the new novel, I found she had to go visit the doctor. I admired Clarice Starling enormously and I think I suffered some feelings of jealousy at the ease with which Dr. Lecter saw into her, when it was so difficult for me. By the time I undertook to record the events in Hannibal , the doctor, to my surprise, had taken on a life of his own. You seemed to find him as oddly engaging as I did. I dreaded doing Hannibal, dreaded the personal wear and tear, dreaded the choices I would have to watch, feared for Starling. In the end I let them go, as you must let characters go, let Dr. Lecter and Clarice Starling decide events according to their natures. There is a certain amount of courtesy involved.

As a sultan once said: I do not keep falcons—they live with me. When in the winter of 1979 I entered the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and the great metal door crashed closed behind me, little did I know what waited at the end of the corridor; how seldom we recognize the sound when the bolt of our fate slides home.

T.H., Miami, January 2000

[testterr]

Io: Chapters 1 & 2

back / home / next

Chapter 1

Only minor notes here: The line 'like a bolt sliding home' is cannibalised from the foreword to Red Dragon. * When Hannibal says "even a possibility is capable of shattering and transforming us", he is paraphrasing Nietszche like the very clever and well-read person suit he truly is. Nietzsche says: A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us. I've found this to be horribly, paranoia-encouragingly true. * Even more minorly, when Will is talking about fishing and morosely tells Hannibal that the fish were biting, "but not for me", he was 100% thinking of and quoting 'Not For Me' by the estimable Bobby Darin. A song which Will remembers fondly, of course, from all those times he used to hum it to himself while sitting in gaol.

Chapter 2

*work in progress* Leda and the Swan: For those who don't know, the story of Leda and the Swan when boiled down to the very bare bones amounts to this: the almighty Zeus developed a tendre for the human woman Leda, transformed into a huge swan, flew down and had his way with her, possibly non-concensually, after which Leda lays an unconfirmed number of eggs. Hannibal has a painting of Leda and said swan hanging over his dining table. Why? Well, my theory is that he's very subtly alluding to his hidden nature. the boucher version is more romantic than the shingleton version, which feels a bit more salacious rather than merely erotic. why does he have this version over his fireplace? Hannibal has a painting of Leda and the Swan hanging over his dining table. Besides this being a nod to the books, I think that this choice (being one of the most sexually explicit versions of Leda) is Hannibal mocking social norms. The reason being that it was historically ‘considered more acceptable to depict a woman in the act of copulation with a swan than with a man’. We have to consider that this is how Hannibal sees most of society’s trappings. ‘You’ll sit here eating dinner in front of a depiction of bestiality, but you’ll condemn murder/cannibalism’ He’s pointing out that the rules we live by are sometimes arbitrary, something he alludes to again and again (And tries to convince Will of) see: ‘men make murder. We make mercy, too.’ When Will says ‘acts of transgression fascinate you’, this is particularly true when juxtaposed with accepted societal norms. Leda: Killing is to murder what lust is to sex and what hunger is to a feast? We elevate all our other primal urges, bar one. We degrade killing by calling it murder but elevate the others to art. We have orgies and feasts….Phasing out hunting? http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/enewsletter/poetry05/06_paglia.html - camille paglia analysis of yeats leda & swan “what we are is something much worse” half-quote from the show? It sounds so familiar ‘Out of darkness and into darkness.’ – Will’s ironic play on 1 Peter 2 9: ‘out of darkness into His marvellous light’ ‘We’re in Philadelphia’ okay I drove myself INsane trying to find a suitable sea cliff within a few hours’ drive of Baltimore because yes it they appear to drive through the night to get there in the show BUT the house has GOT to be nearby because there’s no way Lecter could have kept driving overnight/taking flights to get to Miriam + Abigail without it being suspicious but the geography jUST DOESN’T WORK there are NO suitable cliffs within like 10 hours jesus what was fuller thinking honestly what. What. So we’re all going to pretend that the east coast of Maryland is AKA Land of 1000 Cliffs before i become certifiable. This logic gap is killing me I mean killing me. Hannibal quotes Marcus Aurelius and Martin Luth in one go, because he’s just SO well-read. “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “Pray, and let God worry.” ― Martin Luther Yes all the meds mentioned are used irl in veterinary science to control musth in elephants (leuprolide) and oestrus in dogs/cats/ferrets.cows (proligesterone). proligesterone solution really does have a shelf life of 3 years. Leuprolide solution would feasibly last for 2 months at room temp. leuprolide is approved for human use and is used to treat ____ as well as to chemically castrate sex offenders. Blah blah. Both are available as injections. Brand names are made up. Doc Watson is Molly’s music according to Red Dragon ‘élevage’ is a French term meaning “raising” or “upbringing” used also to describe the aging process of wine. It also apparently refers to animal husbandry, or the raising breeding of livestock animals for subsequent consumption. Hannibal quite possibly couldn’t resist. “Households with pet birds are roughly as prevalent in the US as presented omegas” – You would nOT bELieVE how long it took me to find a statistic for about 2% of the uS population that did NOT involve a hereditary disease. Jesus H Christ. I mean, 2 hours? More? ‘if he were in Maine, Molly could rub his back while he rubbed her front.’ – paraphrase from red dragon.

♥

[sallowhillshq]

.✾. ═  welcome to sallow hills.  enjoy your stay.

i see we have a new member to our town.  welcome, welcome REBA MCCLANE.  we truly hope you enjoy your stay.  please feel free to head over to bevin & cecil’s until you’re settled.  i know it might be difficult right now and you might be missing your home.  other character from fandom is already here though/other character from fandom may be arriving shortly, so you won’t have to be alone.

* note: as well, ben solo has been dropped by nano & luke skywalker is on reserve

 ══   nano we’re so excited to have your newest muse in sallow hills!  you can re-find the welcome package in the source link & if you are using side blogs, make sure we know where your character is going.

╔═.✾. ═ LOG *** : reba mcclane | ciswoman, she/her | 44 years old.

Just spotted REBA MCCLANE around town. Our records show that they remember [everything] from their source : hannibal nbc/red dragon (canon). They were first spotted in january 2023 and our best guess is that their last memory is the house burning down. Archivists watching them state that they still have the gentle smiles, kind heart, the summer breeze blowing through her hair & early mornings vibe about them.

━ from Armes E. Sallow’s personal archives. ═.✾. ═╝ ↳・゜rutina wesley . ↳・゜nano.

↳・゜Reba, oh my darling Reba. She is like the kindest person you will ever have the pleasure of knowing. She gives people the benefit of a doubt and gives out chance after chance in the hopes of people actually changing one sweet day. She also has a tendency to love very deeply which makes it hard for her to give that love up. In Sallow I think she is gonna flourish in a way she didn’t get the chance to do back home. She is gonna work as the gardener over at Annwn Gardens during the week days and as a barista at Caffi Rhees during the weekends.

[disaster-vampire]

since you know dante so well, i feel you should analyze hannibal S3 through the lens of the inferno 👀 since it's brought up so often

i've seen some inferno/hannibal comparisons before and honestly i don't like most of them. possibly because i have very specific views towards both pieces of media. also i really wouldn't say i know a lot about dante, i assure you there's plenty of folks that know more (ie my grandpa knows all three books of the divine comedy by memory). i'm but a very opinionated italophone.

before we start: general tw for blaspheming on my part both against the christian god and towards dante, since many seem to regard the dude as a god himself.

alright so. let's see how long this gets.

i know you asked abt s3 and the inferno and while yeah that would be the most obvious parallel since they really lathered it on pretty thick, i really think the entire show parallels the arc of the divine comedy, each season going hand in hand with a book from the trilogy.

the inferno opens with dante having a mid-life crisis of faith. he finds himself in a 'dark forest' and when he finally reaches the light he is blocked right in front of it by three beasts that represent cardinal vices. virgil saves him from the beasts, but to come back to the world of the living dante will have to travel through hell, purgatory, and lastly paradise. will's three beasts are garrett jacob hobbs as a manifestation of guilt, encephalitis, and isolation.

much like will, dante goes through hell recoiling from horrors of his own creation. he can't even describe some of the things he sees in hell, and often faints from the sight of them, yet comes up with some pretty horrible punishments all on his own and doles out judgement on whoever he pleases based on his own moral code. of course in his book, not irl, though if i remember correctly he did participate in a war, so who knows.

hannibal does seem a sort of virgil, as he sweeps in to rubber stamp will, letting him into hell proper, and will graham's dark forest is a thicket of corpses. at the end of s1, much like dante and virgil, will sees the face of the devil as he lifts hannibal's veil.

the real virgil might be beverly, considering her nearly unwavering faith in will and her no-bullshit attitude, on top of how she always seems to stabilise will when he's in dark places simply by being down to earth.

at the same time this exact same formula is mirrored in hannibal, though much more subtly. hannibal's dark forest is made of loneliness. he starts to fall in love from the moment he meets will, and he can see the glimpse of his own light: being understood for the first time in his life. but he has his own beasts, and he will have to go through his own journey to reach the highest peak of paradise and see the face of god.

dante's purgatory is nearly the same as the inferno, the only difference being that these sinners will eventually be accepted into heaven, and that is somewhat mirrored in the first and second season, as they both follow a similar plot. trust is slowly gained and built upon, secrets start to tangle our mains up, there is a horrible betrayal. will is released from the temporary purgatory of his cell, where he'd been imprisoned for the crime of seeing hannibal for who he really was, and thinks his ticket to heaven will be one more act in the name of justice. at the end of the purgatory, virgil must leave dante, as he can't enter paradise, and leaves him in the hands of his unrequited beloved, beatrice. at the end of season 2, will has to be left behind by hannibal, as he was not ready to follow hannibal into the "paradise" that hannibal had built for them. and in reverse, will must let hannibal go and find his own "paradise" in a "ready made family," as hannibal calls it.

you would think the fight with the red dragon is the moment when they see the devil in the inferno, but imo it's the part where beatrice brings dante to meet god. either way, whether they survived the fall or not, they have seen the face of god, and god is their love.

my dearest anon. you sent me this at midnight and it is now 1.45am and this is how far i'm willing to go without taking out the books and rewatching the show. i have gone through my own journey. i now see the light of pillow comfy. goodnight, have fun taking this apart, i shall slumber.

[marley-manson]

Hannibal and will!

Thank you!

Send me a ship and I’ll answer three questions based on if I ship it or not.

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Funnily enough, I actually didn't ship it while watching the show the first time until literally the season 3 finale. See, I believed that Hannibal was manipulating Will the whole time and it was basically a horror story about poor Will being brainwashed into wanting to murder people and all that, and while I enjoyed the homoeroticism a lot and even read some fic, it's just not the kind of thing I'm really into, I find moustache twirling villailn/woobie victim boring as ship material.

The moment that made me go 'wait a second... wait just one fucking second, I've been wrong the whole time, this is actually a perfect ship for me' was Will's sip of wine while looking down at Hannibal bleeding out after he let Dolarhyde shoot him.

I was expecting throughout the entirety of the Red Dragon arc that Hannibal was somehow playing a long manipulative game and he’d reveal it in the finale, so I guess when it turned out that nope, he had no plan he was just going wherever the fuck Will took him up to and including his death, it made me reconsider everything.

So the day after the finale aired I marathoned the whole show again in like three days with eyes wide open and saw everything in a new light and really fell head over heels for the show.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Hannibal's super intense feelings. The parallel between him and Franklyn. Hannibal trying to eat Will's brain to get over him, failing, and going to the opposite extreme and spending 3 years in jail right after because the brain eating was like, a last-ditch attempt to save himself from his own feelings. Will falling in love over the course of season 2 not despite wanting to kill Hannibal but because of it, as illustrated through very sexually suggestive murder fantasies.

Will asserting his own agency at the end of season 1. Hannibal's smile in the last shot of season 1 not because he "won" or anything but because Will knows who he is now. Will pulling a gun on Hannibal. Their murdery "with my hands" dirty talk. The ortorlan blowjob scene, instant classic. Hannibal letting Dolarhyde shoot him not to save Will or anything, but just because that's how Will wanted them to die. The fact that Dolarhyde only kills families so it was basically Hannibal accepting a marriage proposal when you think about it. Will changing his mind and killing Dolarhyde with Hannibal instead. "I gave you a child, if you recall."

The fucking tearfully smug look on Hannibal's face when he kills Abigail. Will fantasizing about killing Jack and running away with Hannibal. Bedelia's exasperation with Hannibal's pining and her manipulating him because of it in season 3. Everything about Sorbet, Tome Wan, and Digestivo, aka the three best episodes of anything ever. Man I could go on forever but I gotta stop.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I think the most likely scenario is Hannibal and Will killing other serial killers, but I think if it came down to it Hannibal is more likely to give up murder than Will is to take up murder. Hannibal already functionally gave up murder not even for a relationship, but just in the hopes of seeing Will again and like, not being forgotten, when he turned himself in in Digestivo. Also I think if they do start killing killers it'd 100% be Will's idea, not Hannibal's. Hannibal is not rocking that boat now that he's finally in it by trying to manipulate or force Will into murder again lol. At best I could see him handing Will a newspaper detailing a new serial killer with a hopeful expression lol.

[spacepunksupreme]

book asks: 4 & 15

4. What sections of a bookstore do you browse? —I'm actually not in bookstores very often, I can't even remember the last time I was in one. I do like to look through books in thrift stores though and find old stuff with fun covers, though I rarely buy things I've never read before

15. Recommend and review a book —Oh how fun. Okay, lemme think hehe. Outside of trying to force Dune on people lol, Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is probably one of the top books I try to foist on people, mostly cuz I pretentiously resent the popularity of the Hannibal tv show because I think the books are 1000% times better and severely underrated. One of my favorite things about Harris' writing is how apparent it is in his style that he was a journalist before becoming a novelist, his writing is very clean and straight forward, and it's all very well-researched which is a plus in any crime novel, but also he's very good at presenting things in a way that makes them sound factual even when it's complete bullshit, which I enjoy lol. As far as crime/horror authors go he's easily one of the least horny I've ever read, which I consider a minus only because horny things do still absolutely occur in his books but they're very sensationless— I could appreciate it if the inability to be horny meant that he wasn't treating the violence in his novels as pornographic, but he definitely still does, it just like ... doesn't work lol. Fantastic writer of loveably fucked up characters though. Oh, Francis Dolarhyde ... lover of William Blake, eater of priceless water color paintings ... I love him. Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon is more of a prototype of what he is by Silence of The Lambs—he's lacking some of the things that really make him the iconic character he is later—but he's considerably crueler and it makes him a little more frightening than he later is unsettling. Red Dragon is not a book with a happy ending also, but it's very satisfying tragedy imo.

[roselevesque]

The cut "I love you, Will" from the beloved speech haunts me, because it provides lighting to Will's own mentality in regards to his love for Hannibal and Hannibal's love to him.

Will understands that Hannibal's version of care/kindness/teaching is based on transcendence of an immoral variety. He sees the monster resting within and unleashes it, but, given how different Hannibal is from anyone Will has ever known, could it really be love?

How could it be love when Hannibal framed him? How could it be loved when he sent someone after him? How could it be love when he stabbed him and tore Abigail away immediately after their reunion?

Essentially, Will's subcouncious either recognises what Hannibal feels for him is love OR that Hannibal's twisted self would call it love. Whether you chose to interpret it on way or the other, the love between the two revolves around the speech's philosophy and the idea of reciprocation.

What one gives the other one eventually gets: imprisonment, a hitman, running away from heartache in a person suit. All is "Even Steven".

This is where we go back to the potential part. Whereas Hannibal finds a kindred spirit and digs after him through pain and terror, Will's relationship with his beloved's potential has to do with admitting that he is capable of love. Twisted as it is, he is. And twisted as it is, that reciprocity is what spins Will into action in the Red Dragon arc and inches him towards allowing Hannibal in as a partner in all ways they could be.

Hence the "Is Hannibal love with me?" line and how I consider its build up.

[darling-i-read-it]

The Wrath of the Lamb

3x13

Hannibal Lecter x reader x Will Graham 

Hannibal Re-Write Series Masterlist

Word Count: 4.7k (this is officially the longest thing i’ve ever posted, i beat my own record three times with this series lmao)

Warnings: spoilers for hannibal, murder, guns, pregnancy, burning, canniablism, death, gore probably more idk 

Author’s Note: My very favorite thing about this rewrite is watching the show and seeing how those writers and creators took pieces of the original source material to create their own show and I took both the novels and the show and just did this. I am very very proud of this. I am so happy I decided to do it. I was going to make a substantial change to the ending but I honestly am hoping that one day, season 4 will happen and maybe I’ll stil be writing. Thank you all SO MUCH for getting this far. I am so happy we got to share this together and that this show is as good as it is. I hope I did it justice because this show is so complex. I hope that you all enjoy and thank you again. 

I used some direct quotes from the script so some things may seem familiar 

Official Episode Summary: Will orchestrates a plot involving Hannibal in hope of slaying Francis Dolarhyde; Bedelia is concerned for Will and the lives of those close to him.

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director 

Tag List (is always open!) : @llperfectsymmetryll​ @ericacactus​ @vlightning95​ @sweetgoodangel​

(not my gif) 

You looked in the small window of Reba’s hospital room. You were standing outside of it beside your husband, your hand tight around your upper arm. You were almost cradling yourself in a way. This reminded you of when you had come to visit Abigail, when she was still in the hospital. As your eyes went from the window to Will you were once again thrown to the reality of now. If it had been Abigail in that room you would have looked to see a shaking, sweating puppy dog Will Graham who was so unsure of the world around him. This Will was so different. His hair was done, his shirt ironed. You had ironed it. 

He met your eyes and you gave him a small nod. He opened the door and you let him go inside. You did not follow him. He had enough empathy to give Reba and he understood where she was standing. You and him understood. You had all loved a monster.

-

Will grabbed your arm gently. You and him stood in front of Hannibal’s cage. You had no doubt that Hannibal saw you somewhere else. But nonetheless, you allowed yourself to ease in his presence. A thing Will was once again learning to do.

“Ding-dong, the Dragon’s dead,” Will said. Hannibal raised an eyebrow. He looked between the two of you and his smile faded.

“Pity. I had such plans,” he promised. You believed that. “Are congratulations in order?” Will approached the other man, just against the glass wall. 

“I didn’t kill him. Neither did Y/N. Suicide.”

“I would have liked to kill him as well,” you muttered. Hannibal seemed disappointed at that.

“Then he wasn’t as strong as the Dragon after all,” Hannibal whispered. 

“He was trying to stop,” Will argued. You weren’t sure why Will was arguing for Francis. You hated that he was. He had hurt you. Francis had scared you. You didn’t mention it but you could feel that Hannibal caught the emotion

“I was rooting for you, Will. I figured you would adore killing the man who attacked your family, it’s such a shame. You came all this way and didn’t even get to kill anybody. Only consolation is Dr. Chilton.” Hannibal paused for affect. “Congratulations for the job you did on him. I admired it enormously. Did you do it together? Was the idea hatched in the duo?” You straightened your back. 

“No,” Will said simply. 

“What a cunning couple you are,” Hannibal said anyway. 

“Are you accusing us of something?” you questioned.

“Does the enemy inside you agree with the accusation? Even a little bit?” Hannibal questioned. 

“We came back to stop the Dragon. He’s stopped,” Will stated. 

“Your family was on his itinerary Will. You’re safe now, all three of you. You can go home again. If there’s any point?” Hannibal suggested. You gave him a look. 

“I like my life,” Will said but he did not sound convincing. 

“It won't’ be the same. You’ll see it’s not the same,” Hannibal promised. You stepped closer to the glass.

“I want it to be the same. Together, we will make it the same,” you promised.

“Mutual assurances you try to exchange in the dark and in the day will pass through some refraction, making them miss their mark. When life becomes maddeningly polite…” Hannibal thought about his words and made you both think about them as well. “...think about me. Think about me, don’t worry about me.” 

Will was ready to leave. You could feel it. 

“You turned yourself in so I would always know where you are. You’d only do that if we, together, rejected you.” Will put his hand on the nape of your back. “Good-bye Hannibal.” Will started to lead you out. 

“Will…” He turned. “Was it good to see me?” 

“Good? No.” 

Will walked out and you followed him. He kept going but you stopped as the doors behind you shut. Your mind reeled and he could see it. 

“I need my own goodbye,” you whispered. He gave you a long look. He knew that this was what you needed. He knew it was. Still though, he didn’t want it. He wanted to protest. 

“I’m going back to the motel. Meet me there?” You nodded. He walked down the hall. You could feel his tenseness but ignored it as you walked back into the room with Hannibal. He was clearly surprised to see you. 

“Was that not good-bye?” he questioned. You shrugged.

“That was Will’s good-bye. Not mine.” 

You walked in front of the glass and sat down. Hannibal did the same. You were arguably one of the only people he would sit down like that for. 

“I take for granted, on occasion, that you enjoyed my company,” you told him. You played with the hem of your pants. “I recognize, to a fault, that you would eat me if let out. You would eat my husband. You would eat my baby. But still…” You smiled, reminiscently. “I loved you.” 

He was pleased to hear this. He was so pleased.

“You never would have left him. Not even if I killed him in the kitchen,” he suggested. You thought about that for a moment. You thought back to that terrible day and felt it again.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“When you came in to interview for the secretary position I had already picked someone. I didn’t want to be rude, so I let you in.” He stopped. That was the end of his story.

“Why would you let me work for you?”

“Because I liked you. And as it turns out, we would have met eventually. Through Will.” You nodded.

“But it would have been different.” 

“Yes. Yes it would have.” You pressed your hand against the glass. He looked at it and he did not put his hand on yours. 

“Will is right. I turned myself in so you and he would always know where I am. Because you rejected me.” Your hand fell off the glass slowly.

“I deserved that.” 

You stood up and took a deep breath.

“Good-bye Hannibal.” 

-

You walked up to the hotel room and started to grab the key from your purse. You struggled for a moment but eventually found it. You slid it into the lock and unlocked it, walking inside. Your mind hung over Hannibal still when you were grabbed. You had just been able to see Francis coming at you enough to push him off, hitting his head. He ran out of the door and you followed him but eventually he went too far and you had to stop. You turned back to the room and ran back, your hand on your stomach as you breathed hard from adrenaline. 

Will sat in the chair, tied down. You rushed to him, locking the door behind you. 

You started to untie him.

“Who was that?” you asked. 

“The Red Dragon,” he breathed. You scoffed.

“Not dead then.”

“Clearly.” You got him out quickly.

“Are you alright?” you questioned. He nodded, rubbing his wrists. 

“Yeah. He didn’t hurt me much.” 

“What did he want?” 

You stared at each other. He didn’t need to tell you. You knew. 

-

Will, you and Jack Crawford stood in the hall leading to the morgue. 

“The obvious thing is to try to get him to come to us. Bait him with something he wants more than us,” Will said. Jack gave him a look.

“He’d be an idiot to go for it,” Jack muttered. 

“I know. Want to hear what the best bait would be?” you asked. Jack stared at you. You stared back at him.

“Not from you.”

“Hannibal would be the best bait,” Will said so that you didn’t have to. Jack shook his head.

“Why in God’s name would anybody want to meet Hannibal Lecter?”

“To kill him, Jack. The Dragon could absorb him that way, engulf him, become more than he is,” Will explained. It gave you a moment of just realizing that was how he used to speak about killers he didn’t know. 

“You sound pretty sure Will.”

“I’m not sure. Who’s sure? I’m not even sure Hannibal would draw the Dragon. I say it’s the best shot,” Will explained. 

“Set up how?” Jack asked.

“I would be hell to do, I know that. We’d take Hannibal into federal custody,” Will said. You gave him a look. 

“Because Y/N and Alana would never sit still for what you’re about to suggest?” You gave Jack a bitter role. 

“We fake an escape.” Will stared at you for a moment and Zeller called his name. “One moment.” He disappeared in the morgue that left you and Jack alone, annoyingly. 

“You’ll have both their lives in your hands,” you whispered. 

“Since when do you care about if Hannibal gets hurt under my care?” he questioned.

“Since now.” 

-

Bedelia did not look happy. You did not expect her to be happy either. You respected her bit of unhappiness. 

“We assign a moment to decision, to dignify the process as a timely result of rational and conscious thought. Yet what you propose is so thoughtless, I find it difficult to imagine that moment exists,” Bedelia said bitterly. You stood behind Will, walking around the room slowly. Will sat down across from her.

“Decisions are made of kneaded feelings. They’re more often a lump than a sum.” Bedelia stood up, walked to where she kept the drinks and poured herself one. She offered one to you that she then realized you couldn’t drink. 

“However you think you’re going to manipulate this situation to your advantage, think again,” Bedelia said.

“There is no advantage. It’s all degrees of disadvantage,” you argued. Bedelia fixed on you and Will with a piercing stare. 

“‘Who holds the Devil, let him hold him well. He will hardly be caught a second time’.” 

“I don’t intend Hannibal to be caught a second time.” A flicker of alarm played in her eyes. 

“Can’t live with him. Can’t live without him. Is that what this is?” she asked, bitterly.

“I guess this is my Becoming,” Will suggested.

“I just tag along,” you whispered.

“Because you have two crazy men in absolute love with you,” she told you. Will stood up, straightening his jacket. He was done here.

“I’d pack my bags if I were you Bedelia. Meat’s back on the menu.” 

-

Alana looked annoyed. She sat in Jack’s office, a place you hated to the ends of the Earth. You messed with your hair a bit, leaning against the wall.

“Hannibal has tentatively agreed to the deal, as proposed,” Alana said.

“What will make him less tentative?” 

“He wants Will and Y/N to ask him.” She turned to him. “He wants you to say ‘please’.” You gave a bitter smile. So very like him.

“I’ll say ‘pretty please’,” Will said. He was preparing to speak to you. He knew what he had to bring up would not blow over right.

“We will have a stampede when people think Lecter is out,” Jack explained.

“Let them stampede. Authenticity. And let them think I helped Hannibal escape,” Will muttered.

“Authenticity?” 

“Someone has to be close. When the Dragon comes.” He turned to you. “And just one person.” For a moment, the other three people in that room let that sink in. It was a surprise even to Jack Crawford that Will would even suggest that he go somewhere without you. 

“Sorry?”

“You can’t come,” he repeated.

“No I heard you, I was letting you change your sentence.” 

“I don’t think you need to be there. You don’t.” You clenched your fist and looked away from him. You understood where he was coming from. There was no reason for you to be there. You would only be in the way and you had a child. It would be stupid.

But still.

Every piece of you wanted to be there with Will and Hannibal. You were always there with them. They were your boys. 

You shook your head slowly. 

“What do you suggest I do?” you asked. Will thought about that for a moment.

“Whatever you want.” You couldn’t look at him. He pulled a pocket knife out of his jacket pocket and handed it to you. You took it slowly but still looked away from him. “For if you need it.” You weren’t sure what that meant and you didn’t want to ask. 

-

You and Will walked into the room with Hannibal again. You had hoped to never have to see it again. He did not look surprised to see you this time.

“I thought you said your good-byes.”

“We’ve had one last good-bye between us.” Hannibal was tied up in a straight jacket. You hadn’t been this close to him for a while. You wanted to touch him but you held yourself back. 

“You didn’t just say good-bye, though, did you? That little extra bit at the end for you Will. It felt very final for both of you. I believe it’s called a ‘mic drop’. You dropped the mic, but here you are having to come back and pick it back up again,” Hannibal explained. There were nurses in there with you that stopped any kind of intimacy feeling you may have.

“I knew you would keep running if I kept chasing you. I knew you wanted me to know exactly where I could find you. When we needed you,” Will said.

“And you did,” Hannibal commented. 

“I need you, Hannibal,” you said. Will finished it off.

“Please.” 

-

Will stared at Hannibal in his cage. Even as Francis drove by, he stared at Hannibal. His mind became blurry. But still, he saw the outline of Hannibal’s face in the fog that was his mind as it crashed. People died. People were killed. 

Hannibal was let out. 

Will did not panic. He figured this would happen. He knew this would happen. 

When his mind regained his moment, he got up and stepped out of the broken car. Hannibal crossed to the police car as he took off his straight jacket. He opened the door and pulled the dead driver from the vehicle.

“What are you doing?” Will called.

“You know Will, you worry too much. You’d be so much more comfortable if you relaxed with yourself. Are you coming? He’s not going to kill us here. What he wants to do requires something a little more private.” Hannibal behind the wheel was an interesting scene. The side window was smashed, blood splashed across the inside of the windshield. Hannibal pulled up alongside Will, opened the passenger door and shoved a dead police officer out of the vehicle. He leaned over the seat.

“Going my way?” Will looked through the car door and then looked back down the road.

“You know it can’t just be the two of us,” Will said.

“It never was and never will be, just the two of us.” 

-

You sat in Jack’s office. Will’s pocket knife was in your hand tightly. You were getting a play by play that way which was the only reason you were truly there. You sat in a chair, head in one of your hands as you heard the voices go out and static. You looked up and Jack looked at you.

“What is that? What happened?” 

“Hold on.” He dialed a number.

There was an excruciatingly long moment in silence. You held your breath, biting your finger gently as you waited. Someone spoke on the other line. You couldn’t make out what they were saying. 

Then he hung up and looked at you. You stared back at him and waited.

“They were intercepted. We don’t know yet if there are any survivors.” You stared at him and he waited for that backlash. He was ready for it. But there was no anger that went over your face, instead it was just a small laugh. You shook your head and that laugh fell. 

He saw that face and he recognized the look in your eyes. 

“Do you remember the first judge of Will’s trial?” you asked quietly. 

“What?” 

“Do you. Remember. The first judge. In my husband's murder trial?” you asked again, louder this time. 

“Yeah. Hannibal killed him.” You widened your eyes and shook your head slowly.

“No. I did.”

He had no time to react. You opened the pocket knife and leaned across the desk, slashing his throat. 

-

You reached the motel room quickly after that. You pulled in at the same time you saw a car pull into the parking lot behind you. You got out of your car, hands still stained in Jack Crawford’s blood. The car slowed down beside you. You looked into it and the window rolled down, revealing Will in the passenger seat, Hannibal in the driver's seat.

You let out an audible sigh of relief. 

“Jack told me you were dead,” you said as you rushed to the window.

“Get in the back,” Will said gently. He went to grab your hand but stopped when he saw the blood. Hannibal noticed it at the same time. You did not address it, instead you got in the back of the car with them. 

Hannibal pulled out of the parking lot and away.

“The blood isn’t...the b-” Will started but you cut him off.

“No. I slit Jack Crawford’s throat,” you stated. Hannibal, pleasantly surprised, laughed. Will turned around to look at you. He didn’t look exactly surprised at you. More surprised at his lack of shock.

“About time,” Hannibal said. 

“Is he dead?” Will asked. You shrugged.

“I left before figuring that out.” 

You were so happy to be back beside the both of them. You just let out another sigh of relief.

-

You got out of the car and admired the scenery. It was such a Hannibal place, you weren’t even surprised. The sun setting, the cliff, the way the house stood on the Earth. So serendipitous. 

“The bluff is eroding. There was more land when I was here with Abigail. More land still when I was here with Miriam Lass,” Hannibal said. Will looked over the view and down the cliff a bit. Water, crashing. Gorgeous.

“Now you’re here with us,” Will said. 

“And the bluff is still eroding. You and I are suspended over the roiling Atlaninic. Soon all of this will be lost to sea,” Hannibal explained. You walked over to where Will lingered by the cliff. Hannibal walked away from you to find the key to the home. 

“This isn’t the right place for us to be,” he whispered.

“Yes it is,” you countered. 

“Running from the law with a child?”

“Sounds like something we would do and do well.” He looked over at you away from the view. 

“Let’s get your hands cleaned.” 

-

The sun set completely. The moon showed through the glass walls. You stared through the view and Will stood beside you, watching you watch your new life. He put his hand on your shoulder and you leaned into him as Hannibal walked into the room. Hannibal pulled a wine bottle from the rack and poured two glasses of wine. 

“I apologize that I cannot offer you any wine Y/N,” he said. You turned to him. Will’s hand dropped. 

“No worries.  I never liked it anyway,” you lied. Will took a glass. 

“You’re playing games with yourself in the dark of the moon,” Hannibal said, moving toward the window as well. “Wasn’t surprising that I heard from the Great Red Dragon. Was it surprising when you both heard from him?”

“Yes and no,” Will said. 

“Surprised me. I just wanted to sleep in my own bed,” you whispered. Hannibal smiled gently but that quickly fell off his features. 

“You intend to watch him kill me?” Hannibal questioned. You shook your head but Will spoke first.

“I intend to watch him change you.” Hannibal took that in, a sad smile on his face as he fingered the corkscrew. He saw it in his hands and wondered if he should kill you. Kill Will. Get it over with. Instead, he uses the tip to cut the seal on the wine bottle. 

“My compassion for you both is inconvenient,” Hannibal stated.

“If you’re partial to beef products, it’s inconvenient to be compassionate toward a cow,” Will muttered.

“Save yourself, kill them all?” Hannibal asked.

“I don’t know if we can save ourselves. And maybe that’s just fine,” you said. 

“No greater love hath man than to lay down his life for a friend’,” Hannibal recited. Will looked out the window and sensed the danger.

“He’s watching us now,” Will whispered. He looked at you and you looked back at him. You were staring at each other the second that the glass wall shattered, impaling Hannibal in the stomach. You turned quickly, moving toward Will subconsciously. Hannibal’s wine bottle dropped from his hand and a large red stain on his sweater blossomed with blood. Glass shards fell through the air and beyond them, the patio is just the black knight. In the darkness came Francis Dolarhyde.

Hannibal slid down to his knee. Blood pumping from the gunshot wound in his abdomen. Will grabbed you but Francis raised his gun to the two of you. 

“Don’t run. I’ll catch you.” Hannibal glanced down at his belly wound.

“Hello, Francis,” he said.

“Hello, Dr. Lecter,” he echoed. Francis pulled a tripod from his bag and tossed it to you before pointing the gun at your head. Will took the tripod from your hands and began to set it up. 

“I’m so happy you chose life, Francis. Suicide is the enemy.” 

“I had one rag of pride that Reba McClane gave me. It told me that suicide was a sorry end,” Francis explained.

“You were seized by a fantasy life with the brilliance and freshness and immediacy of childhood. It took you a step beyond alone.” Francis pulled out a 16-mm camera from his bag and handed it to you who fixed it on the tripod, still at gunpoint. 

“I’m going to film your death, Dr. Lecter, as dying, you meld with the strength of the Dragon.”

“It’s a glorious and rather discomfiting idea,” Hannibal muttered. You back away from the camera and he reached for the gun that was in his waistband. You wanted to reach for Will’s knife he had given you but hesitated. 

“Watching the film will be wonderful, but not as wonderful as the act itself.”

Before you even knew what was happening, a knife slammed in Will’s face. You screamed. Francis shot you in the stomach. You stumbled back and then moved forward again. Will fell through the broken wall you attacked Francis. You had enough strength to get him outside.

Francis lifted Will off the ground and Will stabbed him with the knife that was once in his cheek. As you found your own knife, Francis started to again fight Will. As you moved you saw Will rag-doll across the stones. Will’s blood spattered across the thick drops to the stone. He got to his hands and knees. You went to stab Francis again but he got to you first, slashing your side. It stunned you enough that you fell back on the stones beside your husband. 

Will pulled his gun out and Francis immediately disarmed him, tossing the gun over the bluff. You wanted to scream but nothing came out. Just as Francis went to slash him again Hannibal came out of the darkness. He tried to snap Franics neck but the man's neck was too strong and he swatted Hannibal away. 

The two of them staggered across the patio. You tried to get up and Will did as well. He tossed Hannibal off but you and Will were up again.

You started to use your knives on his legs, hoping to disarm him. Hannibal grabbed a hatchet that he found off to the side. He slammed it into Francis achilles tendon and then his knee. 

You, Will and Hannibal all stood now. Exhausted but equal. Francis bleeded from his wounds, leg destroyed. Hannibal staggered up to him and bit out Francis throat. He arched his back and blood fell all around him.

Eventually he fell and let out one last breath as he stared at Will in front of him. 

Dead. 

Will started to finally feel his wounds, as did you and Hannibal. He looked down at his hands which were drenched in red. 

“It really does look black in the moonlight,” he whispered. You didn’t know what he was talking about but you didn’t ask. You stumbled to Hannibal who caught you. In his other arm, Will stood. The three of you embraced, not quite hugging, not not hugging. 

You caught your breath together. The night was still otherwise. 

“See,” Hannibal breathed. You did not look up at him. Will’s head was against his chest. You were buried in his neck. You grabbed Will’s hand and he held it for dear life. “This is all I ever wanted for you,” he choked. “For all of us.” 

Hannibal sounded broken. 

You felt broken. 

Will looked broken.

You closed your eyes, brushing back the tears that you didn’t know were there. 

“It’s beautiful,” you whispered. And you weren’t lying. Will stared at you and he genuinely felt that it was beautiful. He felt what you did. A single tear cut through the blood on his face and fell. 

You held onto him and Hannibal tightly. 

These were your boys. These were the people you had risked it all for. And you did not regret it for even a moment.

Hannibal let out a shaky breath and you felt the Earth underneath you move. You felt the ground and then you did not. 

Where you once stood was drenched in blood. It was illuminated by the moon. If someone was to stand there, despite there no longer being a living person standing there, they would feel the emotions that had left. That place was no longer still. It was breathing. 

The sea underneath it was breathing. It had engulfed three people who loved each other more than anyone had loved anyone. 

The waves crashed against the rocks, the only noise left in the dark of the night.