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monster. Has anyone thought to consider that he is anything but that? He isn't necessarily human by the way he thinks and feels - but neither is Will Graham, and people don't consider him a 'monster'.

There is so much to unpack about Hannibal. He is so very complex, and people don't understand his character whatsoever. He is dumbed down to a "psychopathic cannibal serial killer." First off, let me start by saying that Hannibal Lecter is no psychopath. If we have to put a label on him, he is a sociopathic narcissist (ASPD + NPD). It truly baffles me how he can be labeled as a psychopath when he experiences regret and empathy. Hannibal Lecter has the ability to use his empathy as he pleases. He is the master of his own emotions (usually); “There’s no scene where he’s been lying with his emotions. The thing is, he contains all the empathy in the world, but he’s not at the mercy of his empathy. He controls it. He chooses when to be happy, when to be sad, when to be melancholic, but they are all true and honest feelings. Will and Abigail meant a tremendous amount to him, but at the same time, they wouldn't listen! So there's got to be another family out there for him." This depth of emotion and search for family do not seem like the typical psychopath. Psychopathy is often associated with a disregard for the feelings and wellbeing of others, which, to be fair, Hannibal does display, since he eats people (however there is a reasoning behind this, which I will get into later). Cannibalism aside, he does display selective empathy, as Mads Mikkelsen says. Also, psychopaths are unable to form true emotional attachments. I think we all see where I'm going with this - he has an emotional attachment with Will Graham to the point of literally blurring together and his whole self being changed. Sociopaths are capable of forming emotional attachments, regret, and empathy! Obviously there is much more to it than this, this is very surface level.

Onto the NPD, I think that is very self-explanatory. Hannibal is a person who values attention - hence why Freddie Lounds made it through the whole show. Hannibal didn't like her, but he liked the attention she gave him through Tattlecrime. He has a massive inflation of his self-importance, he has a strong dislike for rudeness and disrespect. He believes that some people are worthy of his attention, and others are not. Evaluated by their social etiquette. He decides what is wrong and right in society, and if you don't conform you are instantly viewed as a pig, and killed, * (go to the end to see what this is for) most likely (unless you are Will Graham).

Also, I would like to talk about the parallel of Hannibal and the Fallen Angel.

The image above is artwork of the fallen angel. He (Satan/The fallen angel) is depicted as a tragic hero who defies God's authority, and leads a rebellion of the angels against Heaven.

Above, is our lovely subject in the exact same pose.

The art work is based on John Milton's epic poem 'Paradise lost', in which The Fallen Angel rebels against God due to his envy of Christ, a desire for power, control, and a sense of injustice and unfairness. Hannibal often shows envy towards God as his actions seem so.. unworthy in comparison to God's; "I don't pray. I have not been bothered by any considerations of deity, other than to recognise how my own modest actions pale besides those of God." God has all of the control that Hannibal is incapable of having, and he cannot stand that his desire is insatiable; Hannibal craves control (and for a very good reason).

There are technically two different backstories for Hannibal Lecter, however I am going to fuse them both together for the sake of this. There are two different timelines, in one, Hannibal and his family had to evacuate their home during WWII and his parents were caught in the crossfire between the opposing sides, leaving himself and his little sister (Mischa Lecter) alone and with limited resources. Later, some Nazi soldiers looking for shelter from the cold found Hannibal and Mischa. Long story short, the soldiers saw that Mischa was ill and they killed and cannibalized her, fed her remains to Hannibal and left him to die (which obviously doesn't happen). In the other telling, he truly loved his sister, and he hid away his homicidal side for her, but she dies of an undisclosed cause and he eats her after her death as a way of forgiving her for 'making' him hide his 'true nature'. Either way, we can see that Hannibal craves control over everything in his life due to reason. He couldn't control his negative, traumatic experience in the first telling, and he couldn't control the fact that he wasn't even accepted by his own blood, in the second telling. He had no control over who he was in it, which is negative, and he wants to regain that control after forgiving Mischa for making him lose it.

This is why Hannibal does what he does to rude people. It is a desperate attempt to have control over negative aspects in his life. However, sometimes things happen that Hannibal cannot account for; Mischa not accepting Hannibal for who he truly is, Mischa dying/being force-fed her (depending on the telling), and Will betraying him (+ not running away with him). Hannibal lashes out because he no longer has control. He is defenseless and will act impulsively (although still with some restraint). It reinforces his insecurity and instability without the control. In Mizumono, he acts out because of Will's betrayal of him - leaving him distraught and angry. Hannibal puts people on pedestals and builds relationships in his head, and usually as soon as they fall off said pedestal, or don't act according to how he thinks they should act, (due to him creating relationships in his head, one sided-ly) no longer conforming to his ideals of them - they are pigs. But not Will. Will is on this pedestal for Hannibal as a possible equal for him, someone who can understand him. Hannibal has been searching for this all of his life, and Will has.. denied him of it - betrayed him. He doesn't like that, at all. But he's desperate. He always is. He gives Will a second chance, and offers to run away with him, being denied once again. Hannibal gets angry and impulsive. He guts Will (surgically, ensuring that he will live, to pardon him out of love, because Hannibal doesn't want to lose another person he loves. He already lost Mischa) and expresses his feelings throughout Abigail, murdering her to make Will suffer some of what Hannibal has suffered from Will's betrayal, trying desperately not to be the most hurt one in that house, failing miserably in the end anyway, as we see a tear escape his eyes. He tells Will that he (Hannibal) has changed him (Will), and asks if he believes that he could change him (Hannibal) in the way that Hannibal had changed him. Will responds with the fact that he already HAS - this makes Hannibal realise that he's right, he's made him love again - weakened him and his walls without him even realising. Hannibal didn't leave that day because he didn't want that life without Will. His only weakness is the one he loves, and Hannibal realises that to love is to go through pain.

In "Dolce" (S3, E6), Hannibal tries to saw open Will's head to eat his brain (whilst having Will drugged, so it doesn't hurt him). Obviously, this would kill Will. But let's think about what this would do to Hannibal. Eating the human brain can cause a disease called Kuru. Kuru is very fatal, and incurable. Hannibal has been in the medical field for a while, and he is already a literal cannibal - so we will assume he knew that he would've gotten this disease, which will eventually kill him - and he's fine with that. Why? This links back to Hannibal not wanting to live this life without Will. Hannibal is trying to eat Will's brain to forgive him for his betrayal - just as he did with Mischa - this is also a way for Hannibal to break Will's spirit and make him his forever. This is a desperate act, a last effort to control a situation that is spiraling out of his grasp. For the whole of Season 3, Hannibal acts incredibly impulsively as a way to lure Will Graham in. Hannibal is so overwhelmed by his emotions towards Will, that he resorts to violence.

This is mentioned by Chiyoh earlier on in the series ("Contorno" (S3, E5)) when talking to Will - "There are means of influence other than violence." They later kiss in the episode and Chiyoh pushes him off of the train that they were on. Will feared he saw himself in her, an abandoned toy.. was the kiss self love? Perhaps. I think that whole sequence is supposed to have Chiyoh to show Will that 'he can take down Hannibal other than violence', like...use 'love/tenderness' to influence him - but obviously Will doesn't realise that, and just kisses Chiyoh back - so she pushes him because she realises that violence is all he understands. And it's the same way for Hannibal.

Special mention #1: in "Dolce", during the gallery scene, Hannibal and Will sit in front of 3 Botticelli paintings: 'The Primavera', 'Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder', and 'Portrait of a Young Woman'.

First off, The Primavera symbolizes the rebirth of nature and the blossoming of love and beauty. This obviously refers to both Hannibal and Will's natures, and the blossoming of their love, and how beautiful Hannibal thinks it is, and Will Graham will eventually see it that way too.

Then, Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder is a self-portrait of Botticelli himself. During the gallery scene, it is behind Hannibal, whereas Portrait of a Young Woman is behind Will. The woman in this painting is Simonetta Vespucci, Botticelli's muse. Botticelli was madly in love with Simonetta, who was already married. Botticelli was heart broken that he couldn't marry her. Essentially, they're saying that Will is the Simonetta to Hannibal's Botticelli.

Special mention #2: Whilst Hannibal saws open Will's head, Will sees the 'wendigo', himself, and Hannibal in droplets of blood. The 'wendigo' represents Hannibal and Will's love (very complex and I will probably go into this in the future), I think that him seeing it in this moment was showing how Hannibal was doing this out of love, in a way.

Fuller wanted to change the story for Hannibal's backstory, so that Hannibal had not only eaten Mischa, but killed her as well. Mads adamantly objected to the idea. He insisted that Misha was Hannibal's concept of God, and never would have killed her for any reason or under any circumstances. And I think that this 'concept of God' was passed onto Will Graham. Hannibal worships him - he loves him religiously. Just as he did with Mischa.

There are two art parallels for "Mizumono" (S2 E13) that I'm going to talk about, plus one parallel from the show!

This artwork shows Medea killing her children as revenge on her husband, Jason, because he had betrayed her.

We all know that Hannibal referred to himself and Will as the fathers of Abigail Hobbs, and he knew that Will saw her as a daughter (and so did he, she reminded him of Mischa and he was a father figure to her, but she wasn't Mischa.) A child. He knew how much he wanted to be a father, and he took it away from him time and time again. I think you can see how these two closely relate.

The image above depicts the grief-stricken Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son, the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, shortly after Ivan the Terrible had dealt a fatal blow to his son's head in a fit of anger. The painting portrays the anguish and remorse on the face of the elder Ivan and the shock and heartbreak of the dying Tsarevich, shedding a tear at the unexpected betrayal and shock of having been killed at his father's hands. Obviously, this is a lot harder to see as in Mizumono, it's Will cradling Abigail, not Hannibal. However, the position represents theirs and how Will was unable to save Abigail. It could also be said that in a way it was Will's fault that Abigail died, he drove Hannibal to that point. As the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich was, Abigail was unaware that Hannibal was going to kill her. She did not expect to be killed by her surrogate father in the exact same way her real father tried to kill her. Abigail Hobbs was always destined to die at the hands of her father, she just never knew which one it'd be.

Continuing with the death of Abigail Hobbs, and her multiple fathers - the parallel of "Mizumono" (S2 E13) and "Apéritif" (S1 E1). In Apéritif, Will Graham goes to the Hobbs house and sees Abigail's mother dying on the step of the house, attempting to save her. He does the same in Mizumono, only this time it is Alana (who Abigail classed as a maternal figure). He then leaves to go and save Abigail (although not the initial intention in either episodes. We see Will with a gun, almost expecting him to shoot Hannibal as he did with Garret Jacob Hobbs - but he doesn't. We see Hannibal slit Abigail's throat, just as Garret Jacob Hobbs did to her - only this time the attempt at killing her succeeds. I think this just shows how Abigail saw Will Graham as a strange man who killed her father and then tried to become him - and that she really viewed her true substitute parents as Hannibal and Alana. I think that whole Hannibal's main motive was to make Will feel the pain he made him feel, but I also think that it was because Hannibal recognised that with Abigail, him and Will couldn't have been together with her due to the way she saw Will, and how she saw someone else as her other parent along with Hannibal.

Back to Hannibal, he is always the one that is left behind and his first time leaving someone willingly!!! (Will, (even though he was driven to do it) he left Mischa first, in a way, but totally UNWILLINGLY) was in Mizumono and he couldn't even leave him completely - he took his coat just to have something of him which kinda makes me think of how he ate Mischa to keep her with him (and forgive her). He's always desperate to keep the people he loves. He is a lonely man and all he wants is companionship and understanding from another, just as anyone else would.

Circling back to control, I think that Hannibal feeding people human meat is also a way to take back control - if we consider the fact that in one of the tellings of his childhood, he was forced to eat Mischa against his own will, I see it as his own way to retaliate against God. "Defying God, that's his idea of a good time." - Will Graham.

However, in no way am I saying that all of his trauma caused any of his actions - although it is the reason for many of his desires, and parts of his personality - it is not his motivator, merely just an influencer. Hannibal believes in existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and responsibility in shaping one's meaning and purpose in a seemingly absurd world. It focuses on the idea that individuals are "thrown" into existence with no pre-determined essence, and must create their own values and meaning through their choices and actions. Key concepts include authenticity, freedom, responsibility, and the search for meaning in a world without inherent purpose. Hannibal himself says in "Secondo" (S3 E3) "Nothing happened to me. I happened." When Hannibal Lecter says this, he expresses a sense of agency and control over his actions and identity. Despite any trauma he may have experienced, he views himself as the active force in his life rather than a passive victim of circumstances. This statement reflects his belief that he shapes his own fate and choices, rather than being defined by past events. It's a way of asserting his power and dominance, particularly in the context of his manipulative and violent behavior. So, while trauma has influenced him, he sees himself as the one who takes action, rather than someone who is merely reacting to what has happened to him.

Plus, Hannibal Lecter has a sort of 'blue and orange' moral code. It describes a morality system that seems utterly alien by typical standards. A character with blue and orange morality might act in a way that is unusual, unpredictable, or hard to understand in human terms. This does not always mean they are 'evil' or that their moral framework doesn't exist. He does have some type of moral code; for instance, he frequently kills and eats his victims because he dislikes their rudeness, and considers consuming them to be just punishment for their behaviour. However, it's quite inconsistent as that's not always the reason why he kills and eats people.

"There is no morality, only morale." - Hannibal Lecter.

Morale: a state of individual psychological well-being based upon a sense of confidence and usefulness and purpose.

Morality: the human attempt to define what is right and wrong in thought and behavior, resulting in a system or set of ideas about 'good' vs. 'bad' action, and the basis of community belief in what constitutes good behavior or proper conduct.

Morality is a social construct which Hannibal doesn't concern himself with. In the quote above, that is basically Hannibal saying that he doesn't care about right and wrong, as long as he's having fun, it's okay (Could also be known as 'YOLO').

And back to God talk! Many people believe that Hannibal is an atheist, but I don't think this is the case. I think that Hannibal is a dystheist. *² Dystheism is the belief that a God is not fully 'good', and can even be considered 'evil'. An example of something with a dystheistic nature is Eshu, a trickster in Yoruba religion who deliberately fostered violence between groups of people for his amusement. Hannibal often suggests that God might be indifferent to human suffering, or even enjoy it; "Killing must feel good to God, too. He does it all the time, and are we not created in His image?", "God's terrific. He dropped a church roof on thirty-four of his worshippers last Wednesday night in Texas whilst they sang a hymn. Did God feel good about that? He felt powerful."

* - People often baby Will Graham, brushing him off as less dangerous and scary than Hannibal. But I think that this is incorrect. Will Graham is inherently 'worse', if you'd like to put it that way. Will is well aware that the people he harms/kills are human beings, still sees them as humans, he acknowledges it and yet he still continues to do what he does, enjoying it (or 'tolerating' - in his words, but we all know that was a LIE.)

But Hannibal is a narcissist (as mentioned earlier), he views himself as worthier than the rest of humanity - above them (apart from Will) and he views the people he kills as animals as (usually, unless he's killing Will Graham) they are people who have disrespected him - so in his eyes they are no longer 'human', they're just pigs so they are of no importance to him. He doesn't see them as humans anymore. Whereas Will does. And yet the fandom still disregards Will's personality and overall character by giving him the "victim complex".

*² - Due to recent research, I think it is also a possibility that he could be a maltheist! Wow!

The reason I find it so delicious is because it’s also entirely a power trip for Hannibal. He holds all the cards. He knows the people he’s around are so determined to unmask the Ripper, and he is so sure they don’t suspect him that he easily speaks freely as himself. His influence is immense, his confidence often the most notable thing about him. A socialites certainty and poise becomes nearly indiscernible from a psychopaths disconnect, and he is aware of each good-faith misinterpretation of his murderous jokes.

I like to think that Hannibal not only sees God, but he sees God plucking out the feathers of his wings one by one, rendering the Fallen Angel Lucifer closer to a man. Vulnerable. Mortal. His creator not only condemning him to be bound to earth, but molding him into a new form altogether.