My mind palace...

We all know Hannibal is an extremely complex character. But usually I can figure out his reasoning for doing something, even if it appears to be a strange move.

The one thing I just don’t understand is why did he eat Mischa? Obviously we don’t fully know what Bryan’s version of Hannibal’s past is. It won’t be completely the same as the books/films because that timeline wouldn’t work (the tv series is more modern).

Also we have to take into account he was most likely still just a child when this happened. I imagine he simply couldn’t cope with her loss, he loved her a painful amount. An abnormal trauma response is expected. But I just don’t understand why that? Does anyone maybe have any ideas - maybe the psychology behind it?

And if so, how did that lead to his future ‘hobby’ of eating people. Is it connected to Mischa or is it a separate thing for him? Just a power play?

I want so badly to understand his parting with Mischa but I just can’t make it make sense. Why did he eat her? I mean the assumption is he was a young child.. did he actually cut her up and cook her? Or just ate a part of her raw? It confuses me and is the one thing about Hannibal I just don’t understand

Hey! I hope these posts can answer your question.

Mads: It helps to know what season I’m endangering him in. Is there a specific danger you’re thinking of?

Q: Let’s start early on, in season one, when Will is actually sick and Hannibal is taking advantage of it, and setting him up to take the fall.

Mads: Well, that is a necessity, right? I would love the story to go somewhere else, but the arrows are pointing in Hannibal’s way, so he needs a scapegoat, and that will be Will Graham for the time being. He just needs that for a while until he can come up with a Plan B. So it’s not a long-term thing. He was definitely going to walk down the path to joy together with Will eventually, but it’s something of a necessity.

Q: What about in season three? The tides have turned, Hannibal has been captured and he sets the Red Dragon on Will’s family. What about that?

Mads: Oh, that one. Yeah [he and Dancy laugh]. Well, even though he’s the smartest man in the room, you can’t avoid the fact that there’s a certain vanity inside of him. It’s not a direct jealousy, but there’s a vanity. And you know that family? I’m not sure Hannibal is, like, super-fond of it. So that comes in handy, that the Red Dragon is around. Hannibal basically just wants it to be Will and himself, and that’s it. [Pause] I didn’t say, “Kill Will,” did I, though?

Q: You did say, “Kill them all…”

Hugh: You could say that during the second half [of season three]-I mean, obviously we’re jumping ahead here, but Will comes back to Hannibal. He’s now got this family, and Will, independently and pretty quickly, starts coming to the conclusion that it’s not sustainable for him to have that family. Like, he’s not the guy. He’s not the right person to be able to look after them, to live with them. It’s not compatible with who he really is. And you could argue that Hannibal is just driving him more quickly to come to that realization. So in that sense, it is kind of brutal, tough love. His love is saying, “Know thyself.”

Mads: As Hugh is saying, it’s unavoidable. It’s going to happen sooner or later. Might as well happen sooner, before he’s stuck. [x]

Will not fitting in at multiple schools, always the new kid and always too weird / socially awkward to easily break the ice and make friends 

Eating his lunch alone/??? when his dad could afford to give him lunCH???? in the bathroom stalls so he didn’t get beat up 

‘you’re so weird, why are your clothes old, why don’t you have a normal lunch, you’re such a freak’ 

kids are fucking horrible to kids that fit in let alone kids that stand out in any way jfc im so upset thinkin about this poor smol child 

Will seeing too much with the bullies - like their dad’s hit them or mum’s got a drug problem or they’re poor and on welfare and the bullying is all a front so people won’t notice 

so he TELLS them that and that he understands and they don’t know what the fuck to do with that or how he KNOWS and it terrifies them so they probably beat the shit out of him

And he was thinking that he was helping them / being nice / letting them know they weren’t alone and that he understood

but they throw it back in his face because that’s a defence mechanism for them too

Teachers probably didn’t like Will like he’d be that kid that asks awkward questions and just low key unsettles them and they don’t know why so they resent him for it 

‘I’m sorry that your husband left you for another woman Miss’ oh my god this boy probably just thought he was being kind 

and so he finally learns after people show him soooo much hatred over and over again that it’s better, it’s easier to close off to not trust to tell no one anything about yourself

child Will basically becomes one of those kids that are heartbreakingly independent at like age 8 or something 

He probably walks himself to and from school, buys his own groceries maybe, has very few possessions cause they’re always moving 

idk sometimes i headcanon will’s dad as alcoholic like I feel his father is definitely a can of worms that is yet to be opened 

He’s just so damaged like what the fuck has happened to this person to make him so hesitant to trust people 

how many well meaning teachers referred him to the school councillor 

who tried to then immediately label him with multiple things instead of actually trying to help him 

Will being inordinately proud of his home in Wolf Trap, that he owns, that he paid for, the life he’s built for himself where he feels safe, a space he can trust and call his own

Smol child Will desperately, desperately wanting to connect with people, being so passionate about so many things with no one to talk to, no one who’s willing to give him the time to be understood and see and understand him in turn

Will slowly befriending a stray dog that lives in the motel parking lot where he lives for a time, coaxing it out with some of the food it’s meant to have for lunch

feeling the unconditional love and lack of judgment only small pure lil animals can give you

falling instantly in love with this gross scruffy dog

but they have to leave the next day and he cries all the way across the state line 

‘Shut up boy only pussies fucking cry, real men don’t goddamn cry’ 

I’d much rather see fics where his dad is absolutely doting and loving despite his struggles and woes. He splurges to get him nice new shoes with the little money they have. He doesn’t always have time for packed lunches but he stuffs an extra dollar in Will’s coat for a nice snack. Sundays aren’t church time but THEIR fishing time. He snuggles with Will when he gets his nightmares, brushing his curls back and thinking to himself, “You’re the best thing I’ve ever made”. He kisses all of Will’s booboo’s and ruffles his hair. 

He’ll have a drink when he gets real maudlin over Will’s mum, until Will comes shuffling in, empathy on HIGH and dad will pour the rest away and watch TV with smol Will instead. He names all his lures after Will because he treasures his odd, sensitive son the most.  Him and Will with engine grease all over their shirts and grins on their faces as Will learns the ins-and-outs of mechanics. He’s so proud of his smart kid–he’s gonna be the first Graham to go to college and do something with his life. 

He wishes he were better, like all of those other suburban dads in polo shirts and home-by-5 attitudes. But he does his best and he makes sure Will is loved despite their chaotic, poor lives. 

And when he lands himself in the hospital, Will takes a sabbatical from college just to see his dad. He’s so angry because this is Will’s future, he shouldn’t just leave school for his dad’s dumb cough, he’ll be fine, go back to class, kiddo! But he gets worse and worse the next few days and Will has to watch his dad waste away. He tries to keep his chin up for his son, he tells him they’ll go fishing together this Sunday. But Fishing Day rolls around and the nurse comes in with her head hung low as they take Will’s father off of life support. Will scraps his master’s and phd education in order to pay for this dad’s hospital bills and funeral. 

There’s not a whole lot of people at the service and at some point it’s just Will crying alone at the grave. He made and named a lure after his father and buried it with him. Will didn’t have much growing up and now he’s a man with no father. But he carries his memory in his quiet living, his oversized flannel shirts, the lures, the boat motors. He wears his father’s memory like a person suit and greats Jack Crawford like Mr. Graham greats a pompous client with a yacht needing fixing. 

Hannibal 2x10 - “Naka-Choko”

in the number of the beast is 666, hannibal calls jack god and tells him that all gods demand sacrifices.

it’s immediately clear the the sacrifice which jack is demanding - it’s will. jack pulled him back into the field, interrupting will’s attempts at a normal life, so that will can catch dolarhyde for him.  will specifically calls jack out on using him as bait, a callback to S2, where will acted as bait so that jack could hook hannibal, “you bait him, I hook him”. (this isn’t attempting to demonize jack, he’s motivated by noble, if extreme intentions).

and after that scene, we see chilton going on a tirade and verbally attacking hannibal.

and after that, the sceen cuts immediately to will and the others attempting to make dolarhyde reveal himself. will asks if chilton wants to be in the picture in the article where they trash talk dolarhyde. he also puts his hand on chilton’s shoulder, marking him as a pet. chilton gets burnt in a wheelchair by dolarhyde, in a style reminiscent to “freddie’s” burning in S2.

there’s two sequences of events here. hannibal says all gods demand sacrifices -> we see jack using will as a sacrifice to catch dolarhyde. hannibal says all gods demand sacrifices -> we see chilton yelling at hannibal -> we see will offering up chilton as a sacrifice (to hannibal, it’s implied).

jack may be god, but hannibal is also will’s god. and the nature of the sacrifices they demand differs. jack asks will to sacrifice himself for the good of everyone else (making jesus christ the figure will represents), while hannibal asks will to sacrifice everyone else in pursuit of his becoming. it’s a constant all the way back from season 1, “I don’t care about the lives you save, I care about your life” “achilles wished all greeks could die so he and patroclus could conquer troy alone”.

For me, when Hannibal smells Freddie Lounds on WillGraham and realizes he’s been duped, the heartbreak of that is one thing. You see him sort of go quiet and interior after he gets a whiff of Freddie, and then that dinner scene afterward, where he essentially is telling Will, his best friend in the world that he has ever had, “I will forgive you if you come clean right now. All will be forgiven.” And Will doesn’t take it. 

Ok so the fact stands that Will knew that Hannibal was in love with him before Bedelia confirmed it but it was always something that he confronted in his subconscious. For example, when he dreams about tying Hannibal to a tree, Hannibal more or less tells him he is in love with him (need I remind you of the fact that they cut out the line in which Hannibal explicitly states ‘I love you Will’ during that dream sequence?). This basically elucidates the fact that during the course of season two, Will subconsciously exposed himself to Hannibal’s feelings. Hannibal is simultaneously subtle and obvious in regards to the fact that he is in love with Will. Will is an empath. He always knew Hannibal loved him. He just never confronted it enough because by confronting it, it would therefore become real to him. The only way he could confront it in season two was through his unconscious. Because you cannot control what you dream about. When you are awake you can distance yourself from things or refute facts but dreams aren’t controllable. That scene affirms that Will was fully aware of Hannibal’s feelings. He just couldn’t consciously confront it.