Hey K :) do you think Will really intended to kill Hannibal via Matthew Brown? To me that was Will’s half-arsed attempt at vengeance and mostly because “he was curious to see what would happen” which is a recurring theme between Hannigram. I don’t think Will actually expected Matthew Brown to succeed because really, what were that guy’s chances trying to kill the Chesapeake Ripper?
I personally think that deep down Will didn’t expect Matthew Brown to succeed, and was surprised when he actually managed to almost kill Hannibal. Same thing with Hannibal sending Randall Tier after Will - it seems more like a game between Will and Hannibal, these half-attempts at killing each other. It’s like they know they will both prevail.
Thoughts?
PS: I know you wanna keep this blog to your fandoms and writing so I wont get into it but I hope all is well with you, your family and friends as much as it’s possible under the circumstances.
Hey! Thank you so much for your wishes and interesting questions, and for your support in general! <3
Hannibal is an easier character to understand, in my opinion, so I'll cover him and Randall first. I have no doubts that Hannibal didn't even consider Will dying. Hobbs, Tobias, Gideon - these were more of a test. Randall was a gift.
Hannibal always embraced the fact that Will is a more righteous kind of killer: ever since S1, he's been sending Will "bad people" as sacrificial lambs. At the same time, Will never risked turning into a vigilante because his motivation for killing is different - like he says repeatedly, he enjoys the feeling of power he gets, not the fact that he rids this world of the darkness. But Will needs excuses to justify his impulses. In E9 of S2, he tries to shoot Ingram, allegedly in defense of Peter. Hannibal warns him against it.
Hannibal: Don't do it for Peter. If you want to kill, Will, you have to do it for yourself.
He thinks Will's design has evolved enough to make him stop hiding behind the excuses. He stops Will's murder attempt. And he's right: in the next episode, Will admits he wanted to kill Ingram because he wanted to experience the same heady feeling he got after killing someone before. He complains to Hannibal that he lost this chance because of him.
Will: I regret what I did in the stables … The mistake was allowing you to stop me.
Hannibal: So, it's not pulling the trigger you regret. It's not pulling it effectively.
Will: That would be more accurate.
When Hannibal asks Will to imagine a scenario he wouldn't have regretted, Will imagines killing Ingram. To Hannibal's question of what he saw, he answers:
Will: A missed opportunity. To feel like I felt when I killed Garret Jacob Hobbs. To feel like I felt when I thought I killed you.
So Hannibal starts to plan. He sends him Randall as a gift in apology for his interruption - Randall is also a bad person, but the difference is, Will kills him for personal reasons, like Hannibal wanted. He throws away the gun and pounces; he murders him even when he's already incapacitated. He does it for himself, not under the pretence of protecting someone. Hannibal wanted to rectify the situation with Ingram by giving Will another, more appropriate and challenging victim. He never doubted Will would succeed, in my opinion. He took it for granted.
Another piece of evidence confirming Randall-as-a-gift theory is this deleted bit from the script: Will was supposed to attach a note to Randall's body when delivering it to Hannibal:
A piece of paper is pinned to his chest. On it is written: "Return to Sender."
With Will and Matthew, it's more complicated. From the text we have, I would say that Will genuinely wanted Hannibal killed. He was full of dark anger and bitterness; he hated the conflicting feelings Hannibal continued to evoke in him. Thinking Matthew is going to succeed is one of the reasons why Will sees himself turning into Will-digo, as the script calls him, aka Will's personal version of Stagman. This was his first conscious murder attempt, and he was committed to it enough for this transformation to happen. Later on, in the Randall episode, Will also admits he thought Matthew would succeed:
Will: [I wanted to] feel like I felt when I thought I killed you.
But was he having doubts and regrets? Yes, I'm certain of it. It's all in the show and in the script, as well as in Will's nature in general. He's incapable of confidently turning against Hannibal, the only person who accepts and understands him. After Matthew goes on his mission, Will is described like this:
Will Graham sits on his bunk, head down, contemplating Hannibal's murder.
Doesn't feel like he's happy or eager. When Alana comes to him:
Will looks at Alana. Wants to tell her.
Alana: Will? What have you done?
Will: What I had to.
He turns from the bars and walks back to his bunk. Alana watches him for a beat, but he doesn't look up.
Same here: he wanted to confess to Alana to give her a chance to save Hannibal. "What I had do" sounds forced: Will saw this as necessity but deep down, he didn't want it.
So I do think Will intended for Matthew to kill Hannibal, but he would have spent the rest of his life regretting this. This was the first and last time he came this close to seriously planning Hannibal's murder.












