After Mizumono, Hannibal went to France and then Florence with Bedelia. Since Bryan was planning to feature Robertus in France (a very awkward “Hi Dad”), we can assume that Hannibal planned to introduce Will to the man who mentored him and helped him perfect his craft and person suit. Then in Florence, he would show him how he became a man and explored and put that craft to action. Quite beautiful, actually. If it wasn’t so stuffed with decorum and lies.

What Hannibal wanted to show Will was the pretty stuff. The tableaus and the tale of how the boy became the beast by careful mentorship. The beautifully spun origin tale to make him look nice and pristine. Not the ugly story of all of his worst memories and the things that torture him daily. The things he desperately wanted Will to understand and accept, but was too scared to show and tell. And the things Bedelia became privy to because he had lost control.

Even with all of his planning, Hannibal was still going to try to heavily control this narrative he was building with Will just like he did with Abigail. The fact that Will went backwards in time and jumped all the way to Lithuania to see the ugly stuff probably terrified him to no end.

From Robertus

- All Lecters are unusual although he is the biggest exception to the exception, therefore he truly is alone in the world.

- The foundation that they (Lecters) aren’t wrong. Society is wrong.

- It is 100% okay to murder people who are rude as they are nothing but pigs.

- The allure of hedonism and indulgence and all the great things it has to offer.

- The knowledge of the arts and the ways they can be applied to kills and tableaus.

- The pride of an artist and that they don’t like to have their work stained or have anyone else take credit in any way.

- Drawing your lover/muse naked as a form of worship and affection.

From Murasaki

- The art of cooking and cuisine and how to present dishes in presence of guests.

- Martial arts and marksmanship.

- Finesse and decorum and the foundations of the many parts that make up the “person suit”.

Robertus was a very proud man of high social standing, but didn’t give two shits about societal norms or a proper society. He was a subversive artist who actively undermined his own government and was sent to prison for defying the Nazis and the French order. People would praise him for his beautiful art, but he would more or less brush off the brown nosing and idol worship. He didn’t do it to be praised. He did it because he liked it and believed in his overall defiance of societal order. He also didn’t really believe in the idea of “finesse” and taught Hannibal the same, but did look to Murasaki when it came to teaching such things to him.

In regard to his family, he got Murasaki as a wife at the behest of her family simply for the fact that he wanted her and no one was going to tell him no. He claimed the Count Lecter name even while his older brother, Hannibal’s father, was alive and took it on officially after he died. As for Hannibal, he took him in and immediately claimed him as his own and decided he was going to work on him so he would be his son. He took great care in making sure he was cared for in every way and didn’t give a care when he beat up other kids. Hannibal was too good for them and far too intelligent to be bothered by those lower than him. He also lived very much in the now and as a result was not very careful with his money. Therefore when he passed, his estate was taken and so was everything inside to pay for the death duties, leaving Hannibal and Murasaki with basically nothing to their name.

Robertus had a certain charm to him that entranced everyone around him. It made everyone immediately respect and like him. And such respect extended to Murasaki who was his wife and Countess.

We know that Robertus was Hannibal’s mentor during his fledgling years and he very likely encouraged and influenced his artistic talents as well as how to conduct himself in public with his “person suit”. We also know that he has an understanding that all Lecters are unusual and they eventually grow into their skin if they’re uncomfortable with it when they’re young. Beyond that however, we aren’t quite sure where he lands in the spectrum of amorality and his overall relationship with Hannibal.

The novel gives us a few ideas of what kind of man Robertus was. He was a proud artist who didn’t really care for societal norms, but enjoyed all the benefits that came with his social standing. He was fiercely protective of his family and house staff and when he adopted Hannibal, he immediately claimed him as his own and come hell or high water, he was his son. Strangely, he didn’t seem to mourn the loss of his brother and almost seemed to view him as competition to the Count name. However, he was very knowledgeable of the fact that all Lecters were unusual and would grow into their skin eventually. He died of a heart attack after attempting to publicly murder the man who was racist towards his wife. He also drew said wife naked quite frequently.

What he did was raise the Devil to be himself by rejecting and mocking society, but ironically shackling him within it by sewing him into a “person suit”. That’s practically the same as putting him into a chrysalis without ever expecting him to evolve. Because he sees him, but doesn’t understand him, he probably believed this was the best that Hannibal could ever be without seeing how wrong he was. Some part of Hannibal probably always knew that he was in an incomplete form, but lived in satisfaction because this is what he knew.

Before Hannibal was Il Mostro, he was still a fledgling and a cub. He had yet to become the man we saw in the pilot. He was still being shaped by the world and its many influences and was being mentored by Robertus to become what he was supposed to be. If the murder of Paul Momund is canon to the series, Paris was a training ground compared to Florence which was his own blank canvas to explore as an artist. Needless to say, his experience as Il Mostro and the impact on his life left him forever changed. He could do anything now. At least within the confines of society.

Since Chiyoh knows about Florence from stories, but has never been, at some point Hannibal likely returned to France to tell her about it. He also came back a changed man. A big cat. And at some point, he likely tracked down the man who raped and killed Mischa and planned to kill him, but ultimately chose to save him for Chiyoh. Like all sister/daughter surrogates he would create, this would be her “test” to see if she could make it as a killer who could join him in his world. She also likely served a dual conflicting role to fulfill his desire to keep his dirty secret safe in Lithuania where it would never be touched.