Aaaa the line I love the MOST from Hannibal’s script – the line which I think philosophises the intimacy with which Hannibal loves people, and just, capsulates the eroticity between Will and Hannibal – is from s1e4, “Ouef”. Hannibal is in Will’s house to feed the dogs and he messes with Will’s fishing lures. At first he admires them, before tying off an incomplete fly expertly. THEN the script reads:
“Having completed his work … He presses his thumb gently against the pointed barb, and keeps the pressure on until he draws a drop of blood. Without lingering on his act, Hannibal sucks the lone drop from his thumb-tip. The sound is not unlike a quick kiss.”
There is the aspect of violence – blood is drawn – but it’s not aggressive, it’s gentle, it’s coerced. And the weapon – is the sharp hook on Will’s fishing lure. Unafraid of Will, shameless, when Hannibal sucks away the remnant of this brutality, lips where the hook pierced him open, it sounds like a kiss. How utterly romantic.
And in the actual scene!!! It SOUNDS like a kiss!!!! And oml, they really have me fainting here like a distressed maiden in a Shakespearean play.
It really wasn’t just Hannibal admiring Will’s intellect, from Will’s perspective, Hannibal is also the only person who can keep up with him. Each time Will goes to Hannibal to discuss cases, bouncing ideas off of him instead of anyone else from the BAU who are literally trained and paid to dissect crime scenes. I love it when Will is able to figure out Hannibal put the killer in the middle of the eye mural from looking at the picture and creating the scene within his mind with such brilliant clarity; and so it feels like he is uniquely intelligent, which makes him seem both incredible and one of a kind. But Will himself must feel alone in his ability. The icing on the cake for me is when Will and Hannibal work on the Dolarhyde case, and in this instance they’re BOTH doing what Will did in prison. And Hannibal is perfectly able to keep up with him. They’re, in this circumstance, terrifically equal and no one else can follow them into this mind space. They are unique alone and they’re unique together. It’s so!!
Idk if Will’s dogs names are canon or fanon but the idea of Will naming his two littlest dogs Buster (the rowdy, hyperactive one) and Elle (the pretty, quiet poodle) is so cute of him.
Ugh Hannibal and Will’s conversation in Trou Nomand is so good!!!
Will disassociates for the very first time and travels to Hannibal’s office from the crime scene. He has lost time. We know from ep1 that Will finds it difficult to compartmentalise his thoughts/impressions, especially so when they are strong, traumatic impressions. By this point of the story, he is often seeing Hobbs and the ravenstag. These are two separate trains of thoughts colliding into a new track he’s trying to follow at the latest crime scenes.
The issue is that in his nightmares, his actions are transposing with Hobbs’ actions. He is also hallucinating about Abigail calling him “dad”. His impressions of Hobbs are so sticky that he’s getting lost. And if he’s sleepwalking — if he’s disassociating, then who knows what he’s doing when he’s not in control. He is scared shitless.
Now he is in Hannibal’s office. How did he get here? Not a clue. More importantly; Hannibal knows Will is physically sick.
And what are Hannibal’s motivations? Mislead Will from himself: make him lose control so he can see what happens. So he manipulates Will.
Will says something is wrong with him (yes there is). Hannibal counters this by telling Will he is abusing himself by going back into the field; that the scenes are overwhelming him. Are they? Who knows. But Hannibal knows it’s not the scenes that are causing him to disassociate — Will’s brain is physically growing sicker. But Will must not catch on. Basically, “You are sick because your work makes you sick, not because you are actually sick.”
Hannibal is Will’s paddle, so Will asks him: “You want me to quit?” And this is the second time Will consults Hannibal about quitting (the first time in ep2). Interestingly, both times, Hannibal disagrees; this time by redirecting the conversation. Hannibal doesn’t need Will quitting, Hannibal wants Will to lose his fucking mind.
Then the most disturbing attack: fear mongering. He hits right where it hurts. Tells Will, “What if you lose time and hurt yourself or someone else? I don’t want you to wake up and see a totem pole of your own making.”
Like, if I was Will Graham, I’d just stop sleeping altogether from fear. Will looks to Hannibal with such a vulnerable face in that moment…. And the figurative straw wedged between Will and Jack, Hannibal points a finger at Jack Crawford saying, “Jack Crawford has your head wrapped around…” To make this “Your work is making you sick, there’s nothing wrong with you!!” Story even more believable.
This is one scene where Hannibal’s manipulations are visible clearly.
Ok but Will doesn’t even wear plaid that often. He wears a lot of Chambray-ish shirts, henleys, sleeveless vests, blazers, pullover sweaters, and a variety of jackets. He wears a lot solids and mix & matches his wardrobe constantly. What REALLY stands out is that everything he wears aside from his button ups and sweaters are stained. Fresh stains as well as permanent stains that can’t be washed away, which makes me deduce (twisting my fake moustache here) that he classifies his clothes into 3 categories;
2. Bedtime clothes (old, too-worn, holey t-shirts and boxers)
3. Hobby attire / Casual clothing (literally everything else in his wardrobe that he doesn’t go to work in – henleys, vests, fisherman tops – all stained with grease or something else. ++ Lots of sweaters/fuzzy tops which are kept with relative care)
And!! He visits Hannibal a couple times in his hobby clothes outside of work. Which makes me think this is his favoured state of dress.
In fact!! He vamps up his wardrobe in s2 to hide away his personality, offering Hannibal a battle-ready armour instead. He has stored away all vulnerabilities that Hannibal can take advantage of.
Context: Teenaged Hannigram in a private school somewhere, and Will has skipped class after feigning stomach pains, a healing injury from last week where he beat up a classmate for misconduct. This is his first day back after suspension after that, and he has decided to idle away in the infirmary, lying on an empty bed. Hannibal Lecter joins him then, someone Will has always only glanced at from afar; curious but not willing to become friendly with a guy that smug and suspicious.
Hannibal was so atonishingly cruel in giving Will that useless grounding exercise of “My name is Will Graham, it’s x o'clock, I’m in y location” while he was simultaneously hyponotising him to muddle that very identity. It’s like stealing money from a man whilst warning him to look after his money; always keep an eye on it so you are completely aware of every coin you are losing.
will didn’t have to imagine randall tier naked but he did it anyway
I like to think it’s also because Randall’s species dysphoria makes him believe he’s a non-human beast, and no animal except humans wears clothes. Will is imagining Randall in the form that Randall feels truest in.
AAAA — In s1e11, Will dreams of a thick, tall, ice wall crumbling. A huge wave of water ascends over the totem pole (from a WHILE ago in his reality) to submerge him. He wakes up, the bedside clock is melting. Will’s bed grows into a pool of water. Eventually, Will himself turns into liquid and blends into it.
Go back to Hannigram’s first ever conversation where they argue about Will’s compartmentalisation capabilities. Hannibal concludes by saying he thinks everything in Will’s mind touches everything else, it’s hard for impressions to remain unique.
Consider a biological cell. Made up mostly of water and surrounded by a lipid membrane to contain it. If there was no such barrier, humans would simply turn into a pool of water. There would be mo structure. Will’s encephalitis has worsened. He is being psychic driven without his conscious knowledge. His past impressions are coming to the front. The fragile (ice) walls between unique thoughts are crumbling. He is water.
When Hannibal audaciously asks Jack to tell him about Miriam during their conversation in front of the fire place, of course as is in any conversation involving him, it feeds his ego, but I think Hannibal also genuinely has a (perverse) sort of affection for the people he seems to be friends or lovers with. And in this case he genuinely wanted to know more about her — his captive of so many years — from someone who knows her apart from Hannibal’s influence. And he wanted to know Jack through his perception of her; and understand his regrets.
I think Hannibal cherishes someone’s vulnerabilities as any ordinary person does, only, he doesn’t hesitate to misuse them and ruin the person for them. It doesn’t bring out his mercy, so to speak. He is loving, but rarely ever compassionate. That’s his law. That’s his worldview.
The most unjust thing about Hannibal is that it’s impossible to harm him in the conventional way. He pisses you off, you punch him in retaliaton; make him feel the same pain he’s making you feel. But Hannibal perceives pain differently, he isn’t hurt unless he wants to be hurt, and it’s impossible for you to hurt him. You stab him in the thigh like Mason Verger, you throw him over your shoulder and onto the hard floor like Jack Crawford — he will remain steadfast. It’s impossible to truly kill Hannibal Lecter, as he refuses to be killed. You can’t beat someone’s stubborn and indifferent heart.
So digestivo right… Will telling him he tolerates Hannibal. He misses his dogs, but not him. Hannibal has all the fun, Will says he is merely keeping up. Doesn’t want to anymore. Go away.
It’s… Thinking about it, could we have gone the whole show without spreading Hannibal’s ribs apart and exposing his vulnerable, bleeding heart? Idk. But we didn’t. Will Graham’s the one and only knife capable of cutting into Hannibal Lecter’s thick skin.
I love how any normal person who looks at Hannibal in his plastic suit would think “wow, he is insane” and it’s not even slang or sarcasm, it’s genuinely such an unpleasant sight and Hannibal is really out of his mind. Except Chilton, no one sees him in it in the show, and maybe if Will saw it at some point then it’d be a pungent enough sight to snap him back to his senses for a few seconds from his Hannibal obsession. Like why are you, a well-educated man, dressed in a 3 piece woolen suit beneath a full-body clear plastic suit? And why is the murder weapon in your hand???
My take on “Hannigram is queerbaiting if they don’t kiss”:
Sex is a form of communication. It is a way to express intimacy, but it’s not the only way to be intimate. What’s special about Hannigram is that they already have such intimate, good, communication that sex and physical touch become an aesthetic.
Their dinner conversations where they’re seated across from each other with a table physically in between them, and Hannibal cleaning Will’s hands are equally scintillating, and it was never physical touch that made them be drawn to each other —it was their intellectuality. As long as they have their minds, their thoughts and opinions, they will gravitate toward each other. In regards to a kiss: they’ve expressed how much they mean to each other so much already, is it really necessary that they kiss just to prove that they’re something? Would a kiss make their affections valid? Absolutely not. And this quality adds to how genuine they are. IF they ever kiss, I’m sure we’d enjoy the eroticity of the moment, but if they never kiss, it doesn’t invalidate what they mean to each other.
In my eyes, Hannigram are poetry. A lot left to read in-between the lines. A kiss is an accessory, and doesn’t represent the content of their story. Characters with romance in their relationship don’t need to kiss on screen to be valid. And kissing and sex don’t prove someone’s queer sexuality.
To be honest and no offense, I felt the interviewer was a tad nervous and it made me nervous but the crowd’s energy was so infectious and encouraging and just overall so great, it was like being at a concert, and I felt it was just Mads and Hugh and all the amazing Fannibals in that room who nurtured such great synergy and that also felt infectious so I was hyped throughout and it was such a nice time!! Even just hearing the first cheers during the opening my heart was going dun dun dun and they even got a standing ovation, like, the respect!!! Perfect mix of admiration and support. One of the best audiences I’ve ever seen!!
We didn’t get a S4 announcement, but you know what the absolute best thing about today’s C2E2 Hannibal panel truly was?
For almost the first time since the show ended, Fannibals showed how profitable Hannibal can still be.
C2E2 sold out of their remaining VIP ticket packages with guaranteed panel seating within 48 hours of the reunion announcement. Paid PopVerse subscriptions to stream the panel spiked with previously untapped demos (if socials are anything to go by). The largest event hall at C2E2 was overcapacity 45 minutes before the panel; while that’s normal for cons like SDCC and NYCC, in my experience that’s less common at C2E2.
Not to mention Mads and Hugh making bank with autograph and photo-op sales; a huge component of drawing in good talent to table at cons as well, making sure they make enough over the weekend to justify their presence beyond panel appearances. From a talent booking/event management perspective, this is the absolute dream scenario.
So, here’s the super fun part: ReedPop, the company that owns C2E2, also owns/operates New York Comic Con (NYCC), one of the highest-profile US entertainment conventions after San Diego Comic-Con. Now that ReedPop is aware of the viability of Hannibal programming, it would be extremely surprising if RP didn’t attempt a run at a larger, proper reunion panel at NYCC.
Honestly, great job, team. 2024 could very well be the year we get real buzz going again!
People who keep saying they don’t want a season 4 because they think it will ruin the previous seasons for them, I have an easy solution for you guys!!
Just don’t watch it ❤️ the remote control is in YOUR hands 🫵 NEVER forget that!
At the end of the day it’s a TV SHOW and it can end wherever you want it to end.
Like it’s getting annoying. How are you in fandom saying you don’t want more stuff in front of people who DESPERATELY want said stuff? Party poopers fr
Hannibal’s sleazy smiles whenever he felt amused by Bedelia’s conjectures vs. His soft amused eye-twinkling smile whenever he was amused/enamored with Will. Hannibal’s brutality when he fights Jack and steps over Alana. His stern familiarity with Chiyo, indicative of tough love.
All of it is the true him. Beneath the monotonous drab facade, he’s full of mischief and ire and love and perverse intensity. He’s so well-written idek what to do.
What I like about Hannibal is that his persona is consistent. We, as people, have different masks for different social circumstances and different people. Different aspects of our personalities come to light in front of a friend, parent, colleague, retail workers, doctors etc. But since the entirety of his interactions with people is a farce, he only has a singular mask for all of them. His true personality never peeks out, and he doesn’t care so much about connecting with the average person, so he doesn’t adjust his moods to their context. Instead he gives them the most acceptable version of a human being: someone smiley, friendly, capable and dependable, talented yet mild with a sense of humor and quick wit. Amazing.
