Hannibal blog, often Dead Dove

These two already have an incestuous and enmeshed relationship on the mental plane, but despite Chiyoh being in isolation for 25 years, she knows more than enough about using seduction and femininity as a means of influence.

She may have learned these things from Murasaki since she learned all societal values of being a woman from her, but she may have also learned a thing or two from Hannibal about seduction.

Sensual, sucking on the lips, and very generous. Not to mention extremely effective in manipulating the situation in the moment.

Also, we know from the books that Hannibal was romantically if not explicitly sexually involved with his aunt Murasaki, so they were both clearly not growing up in a good environment for developing healthy familial relationships and boundaries. I could totally see them “practicing” influence and seduction on each other, whether or not any actual romantic feelings were involved.

Not even about betrayal or forgiveness. It’s unconditional love.

But as the two of you grow, he begins to perfect his mask. Growing cooler, more distant. It’s hard to tell if he even feels the same emotions he used to, screaming in the night. But the two of you were friends once, are family still.

And one day you learn he has been killing. At first, his sister’s murderers, but you have a feeling it won’t stop there. You plead with him to stop, for his own sake if not anyone else’s, and as a punishment he assigns you the task of looking after the now-prisoner he had been about to kill, somebody complicit in the murder of a beloved child. The cruelty of essentially taking your freedom by using your morals against themselves hardly surprises you anymore, though it does make you a bit sad.

Eventually you learn about it all, the Monster of Florence, the Chesapeake Ripper, either through your own suspicions and investigations or through the articles that one day come out. And you finally see the entirety of the monster that your sort-of-cousin, sort-of-brother has grown to become.

But you still remember the mute boy that practiced origami with you, the verbal but soft-spoken boy that taught you to recognize materials by the scent of their burn. And you know that boy wasn’t a mask, because you were with him as he improved and perfected his mask, his person-suit, that complemented and then came to disguise the monster that evolved along with it.

And surely that boy hasn’t died entirely, right? You are occasionally in contact with him, and sometimes you think you can see glimpses of the boy in there still, though they’re becoming harder and harder to detect.

Then, one day, a strange man comes to your prison home talking about Hannibal, showing you the scars Hannibal left on his body in a way that makes you wary, but also surprised that Hannibal let his guard down enough to get found out, enough for this man to find his estate and try to learn more about his history.

You can think of only one reason why Hannibal’s near-perfect person suit would fail so spectacularly, and you think you can see hints of the same in this man who is so desperate to understand your cousin. So you try to give him some hints about what he should do, cryptically, as is the family specialty.

The man appears to be tragically oblivious to these hints, and you are forced to shoot him (non-fatally) to keep your cousin in one piece. You can’t allow any harm to come to Hannibal like that—because family loyalty has been engrained into you from a young age, yes, but also because you still care for him, this half-man-half-monster that was nevertheless at one point your closest companion. And who you know can still be hurt, can still die, no matter how invulnerable he seems.

She was the one who saw him very clearly and still loved and accepted him unconditionally while Bedelia and Will could not.

She was the one who was given a great deal of affection, learned new things from him, and was shown compassion in his betrayal, but chose loyalty while Alana chose nothing but hot blooded vengeance.

She was the one who pursued the truth without losing herself while Jack was slowly becoming something completely unrecognizable as he “cut out” all obstacles to his own goals, even friends and family.

She’s also literally everything Abigail and Mischa never could be and more, but she’s no longer the one thing Hannibal wants most in the world. And she’s no longer the little girl who innocently and endlessly admired him as something great.

And yet she’s her own person with her own unique values and belief systems.

She sees the best and worst of Hannibal and she can hold that simultaneously inside of her unambiguously. She chooses bold truth over honeyed lies and doesn’t let anyone poison her mind with distortions and projections for too long.

These two already have an incestuous and enmeshed relationship on the mental plane, but despite Chiyoh being in isolation for 25 years, she knows more than enough about using seduction and femininity as a means of influence.

She may have learned these things from Murasaki since she learned all societal values of being a woman from her, but she may have also learned a thing or two from Hannibal about seduction.

Sensual, sucking on the lips, and very generous. Not to mention extremely effective in manipulating the situation in the moment.

Also, we know from the books that Hannibal was romantically if not explicitly sexually involved with his aunt Murasaki, so they were both clearly not growing up in a good environment for developing healthy familial relationships and boundaries. I could totally see them “practicing” influence and seduction on each other, whether or not any actual romantic feelings were involved.

Not even about betrayal or forgiveness. It’s unconditional love.

But as the two of you grow, he begins to perfect his mask. Growing cooler, more distant. It’s hard to tell if he even feels the same emotions he used to, screaming in the night. But the two of you were friends once, are family still.

And one day you learn he has been killing. At first, his sister’s murderers, but you have a feeling it won’t stop there. You plead with him to stop, for his own sake if not anyone else’s, and as a punishment he assigns you the task of looking after the now-prisoner he had been about to kill, somebody complicit in the murder of a beloved child. The cruelty of essentially taking your freedom by using your morals against themselves hardly surprises you anymore, though it does make you a bit sad.

Eventually you learn about it all, the Monster of Florence, the Chesapeake Ripper, either through your own suspicions and investigations or through the articles that one day come out. And you finally see the entirety of the monster that your sort-of-cousin, sort-of-brother has grown to become.

But you still remember the mute boy that practiced origami with you, the verbal but soft-spoken boy that taught you to recognize materials by the scent of their burn. And you know that boy wasn’t a mask, because you were with him as he improved and perfected his mask, his person-suit, that complemented and then came to disguise the monster that evolved along with it.

And surely that boy hasn’t died entirely, right? You are occasionally in contact with him, and sometimes you think you can see glimpses of the boy in there still, though they’re becoming harder and harder to detect.

Then, one day, a strange man comes to your prison home talking about Hannibal, showing you the scars Hannibal left on his body in a way that makes you wary, but also surprised that Hannibal let his guard down enough to get found out, enough for this man to find his estate and try to learn more about his history.

You can think of only one reason why Hannibal’s near-perfect person suit would fail so spectacularly, and you think you can see hints of the same in this man who is so desperate to understand your cousin. So you try to give him some hints about what he should do, cryptically, as is the family specialty.

The man appears to be tragically oblivious to these hints, and you are forced to shoot him (non-fatally) to keep your cousin in one piece. You can’t allow any harm to come to Hannibal like that—because family loyalty has been engrained into you from a young age, yes, but also because you still care for him, this half-man-half-monster that was nevertheless at one point your closest companion. And who you know can still be hurt, can still die, no matter how invulnerable he seems.

She already instinctively does everything he expects of her without being told to and she doesn’t need goading or instruction to hurt or kill the people she needs to maim. She just does it because she knows it’s right. There’s beauty in between those boundaries of iron and silver and to destroy that balance would mean to defile her in a way.

A uniquely made sister/daughter by him and Will who’s perfect as she is.

These two already have an incestuous and enmeshed relationship on the mental plane, but despite Chiyoh being in isolation for 25 years, she knows more than enough about using seduction and femininity as a means of influence.

She may have learned these things from Murasaki since she learned all societal values of being a woman from her, but she may have also learned a thing or two from Hannibal about seduction.

Sensual, sucking on the lips, and very generous. Not to mention extremely effective in manipulating the situation in the moment.

Also, we know from the books that Hannibal was romantically if not explicitly sexually involved with his aunt Murasaki, so they were both clearly not growing up in a good environment for developing healthy familial relationships and boundaries. I could totally see them “practicing” influence and seduction on each other, whether or not any actual romantic feelings were involved.

This is the first scene with Hannibal in it after Will rejects him in 3x07.

The little boy symbolises the age/boy Hannibal was when he lost the first and (until Will) only person he ever loved. That boy, Hannibal's inner child (who he keeps in his mind palace), is serenading an older Hannibal, who has to deal with the feeling of losing a loved one all over again. Hannibal is literally mourning his loss, that much is obvious from the mourners/nuns seated around him. He's grieving, and he hasn't felt this way for a long time. His younger self is comforting him.

I mean, the parallel between Mischa and Will was mentioned earlier. It was introduced by Bedelia when she and Hannibal were talking about his feelings for Will in Florence. When Hannibal jumps to the ''eating him is the only way to deal with the love I have for him'' conclusion, because that's what he did to his sister. That's how he mourned her. And he tries with Will, but he fails and it lands him in prison.

Ultimately, Will's rejection is like death to Hannibal. And the mind palace scene tells us anything, it's that his feelings about the whole ordeal are way more complex than we give them credit for.