Will's scars are physical manifestations of the ways Hannibal got ''inside him'' (and how he violently claimed ownership over Will without consent).
Every other scar Will has is random. The places aren't specific, nor do they hold any meaning. A bullet to the shoulder from Jack, a knife in his cheek from Francis, those were all aimed to harm him, nothing more.
But Hannibal wasn't (just) harming Will, he was marking him. He was saying through violence what he couldn't express in words. Because violence is what they understand, it's the only way they can justify touching each other. The only way they can be intimate without accepting that what they feel for each other is love. Hannibal and Will are both touch starved in their own ways. And possessive, too. Will claims his ownership over Hannibal by telling anyone who will listen that they should ''stay away from him'' or making snarky/jealous comments. Will believes Hannibal is his, and he's a bitch to anyone who he thinks dares to question that. He has that ''he's not my lover, but as soon as you lay a finger on what's mine, you're done'' attitude. Hannibal handles his feelings exactly the opposite way. His claim over Will isn't something that should concern others, as long as Will knows who he belongs to. That's why Hannibal scars him every chance he gets, and not just any place, either.
The first is his forehead scar; symbolising the way Hannibal got inside Will's mind/head.
The other is his abdomen, initiating literal sex/intimacy, as Hannibal got inside Will's guts.
You'd say Will would hate those marks, but no! Will is proud of them. He displays them at the first best chance he gets. When he meets Chiyoh in s3A and she asks him how he knows Hannibal, he lifts his shirt immediately. ''One could argue, intimately'' he says, showing her that Hannibal has been inside of him, literally. Code for We have been intimate, we were intimate. (''You are here visiting an old flame'' Bedelia says, a couple of episodes later.)
Three years after Hannibal has cut Will's head open? Will wears his hair back constantly now. There's not a scene, except for the ones where he wears a hat, where Will isn't wearing his hair combed back. He wears his scar on display, always. Even during his marriage. It's literally Hannibal's ownership written on his forehead. ''Your wife may have you now, but your mind/body was mine first.''
Will is literally a canvas Hannibal left his creations on. His marks, his signatures. No wonder Hannibal it ''excites him'' that Will is ''marked that way''. He put those scars on him, they are his. Will has Hannibal's name written all over his body.
It's not surprising Will wanted to mark Hannibal that same way in Florence. He was carrying a knife after all. Will usually uses a gun when he intends to kill. There was no gun on him in this case. And, on multiple occasions, Will has admitted that if he were to kill Hannibal, he'd do it with his hands. What does that mean? That Will never meant to kill him, only hurt him the same way Hannibal did in Mizumono. He wanted to claim that ownership, too. Hannibal never intended to kill Will in Mizumono, and Will probably meant to mirror that, if Chiyoh hadn't been there to shoot him.
jacobvanloon
