How do you think trauma connects to Will and Hannibal's kinks? What kinks do you think they have in canon and what are some of your headcanons? I don't just mean the trauma that they share during the show but also their individual history with trauma and the development of kinks possibly intertwined with those experience's. Do you think that kinks can be empowering to people with trauma backgrounds if treated carefully. Thank you!

Sorry it took so long to respond! TW sex talk.

I think kinks are incredibly empowering when we know how to engage. They offer a safe vessel for trauma to be expressed and dealt with in a somatic way, which tends to be the most effective type of approach since it avoids the tendency to intellectualize emotions and repress them further.

Well, Hannibal clearly has a noncon kink, if we consider his pleasure in feeding people human meat without their knowledge. Although I’m not sure if that’s non consensual or…Non awareness lol. He also has this same type of behavior when it comes to some victims, like Miriam and Will. So he certainly enjoys power play in a less conventional way than what we expect from this dynamic.

His type of power play seems to be that in which he takes away the other person’s ability to even have a choice. It most likely stems from the powerlessness he felt as a child, so he doesn’t really try to offer choice, he probably feels unsafe this way. Hence why he was so fascinated by Will and Bedelia (both offered some type of resistance).

Will clearly has bondage kink, but he prefers when the bondaged is pleased, indicating that Will is aroused by stable personalities (Hannibal rarely shows reaction), those who don’t wield easily. He doesn’t find vulnerability attractive, hency why he likes to care for the vulnerable, as an attempt to overcompensate, probably. Hannibal is aware, that’s why he never shows vulnerability in front of Will, and when he did, it was lethal.

So Will might enjoy punishing as a kink, with a partner who doesn’t react, or asks for more. He seems good at humiliation, too (if Dolarhyde is anything to go by) + he’s incredibly arrogant.

Hannibal might enjoy surprising Will with weird ass equipment shoved into his holes. Will wouldn’t like it at first, but Hannibal would train him to enjoy it by associating it with pleasure and comfort. So this could look like trapping Will and experimenting with unusual toys or things not really meant for sex, but offering intense orgasms and comfort afterwards.

Will might enjoy Hannibal allowing him to tie him up, cuff him, and make cuts on his skin with a knife, while he verbally humiliates him. Hannibal naturally enjoys it because he enjoys Will enjoying him (that’s his kink lol)