You memtioned once that you thought Bedelia was in love with Hannibal. Could you elaborate? I love your analysis.

No amount of professional curiosity would realistically compel someone to abandon their entire life, risk their safety, and willingly entangle themselves in criminal acts…all to remain close to a notorious killer. Just as Will’s decision to seek out Hannibal defies logic without acknowledging the pull of passion, Bedelia’s actions can’t be explained solely through rational motivations.

She herself gestures toward this deeper undercurrent when she asks Chiyoh, “How does he inspire such devotion?” It’s not a rhetorical question, it’s personal. And when she speaks to Will about Hannibal being in love with him, her voice trembles with emotion. She doesn’t emphasize you in “do you ache for him?”, she emphasizes ache, her eyes glistening, as if to suggest that she knows that ache intimately.

The implication is subtle but powerful: perhaps she does ache for Hannibal. Perhaps that ache defines her just as much as it defines Will. And within that moment lies an unspoken comparison: is Will truly more worthy of Hannibal’s love than she is?

Interestingly, Bedelia also carries much of Clarice Starling’s original narrative arc, which further supports the idea that she shares a complex, possibly romantic, attachment to Hannibal. Yet, unlike Will, Bedelia seems less inclined to name it love, perhaps because love, for her, is too human a word for what she feels.