ophelia @castellorizonn - Tumblr Blog

“The number of hours we have together is actually not so large. Please linger near the door uncomfortably instead of just leaving. Please forget your scarf in my life and come back later for it.”

— Mikko Harvey, from “For M,” Foundry (no. 9, September 2018)

castellorizonn

i still have your coat please come back for it, please

deviika

Jane O. Wayne // Kate Jacobs

mclennonyaoi

you ever know someone and you think “god i love you. i wish we could’ve known eachother when we were carefree and 11. i wish we could’ve played together as kids”

fromdarzaitoleeza

Richard siken / dave eggers

ghostdrinkssoup

something I find really interesting about hannibal’s character is how he uses people’s expectations and ingrained assumptions to hide himself. no one suspects he’s a serial killer because he doesn’t present as one. he’s elegant and refined and isn’t cruel to animals. he’s highly sophisticated, a polyglot and has a deep admiration for beauty and life. he appreciates saving lives just as much as he appreciates ending them. in fact, this particular aspect of his character is partly why it takes will the entirety of s1 to accept hannibal’s true nature. will saw hannibal save abigail and accompany her to the hospital in apéritif and he also saw hannibal save a man’s life by performing emergency surgery and taking over the operation at the end of sorbet.

this moment in particular is interesting because of how it’s framed to make hannibal look almost godly from will’s point of view:

1) hannibal is positioned immediately higher than will due to being in the ambulance, meaning will is looking up at hannibal, while hannibal is looking down on him

2) hannibal is standing under a bright light as he works to save this guy’s life, while will is standing in almost complete darkness

3) the usual orchestral, classical music is playing in the background, emphasising the apparent “holiness” of the act and framing hannibal as some sort of saviour

the impact of this scene is even more potent when considering the context of the rest of the episode, since will has already stated that the ripper is not the type to save people or enact mercy on anyone. his style of murders doesn’t suggest this characteristic whatsoever, and although will’s assessment is correct, hannibal’s personality and overall demeanour doesn’t match what we’d imagine a person like that might look like. I think will is confronted by this as well, because even if hannibal’s surgical skill means he matches the ripper’s profile (which makes him a valid suspect) his actions contradict will’s image of the ripper, while simultaneously affirming it:

it’s difficult to reconcile these facets of hannibal’s character. it’s inherently contradictory and defies our cultural expectations. nonetheless, hannibal’s inclination to save people is sometimes more insidious than his murders. he doesn’t save people out of altruism, he does it because he thinks he’s superior and enjoys deciding outcomes. he doesn’t view himself as insane, he views himself as god. this is most aptly explored in takiawase, through the acupuncturist/beekeeper killer. here we see a murderer who confesses that she killed a man to quiet his mind, and tells jack that it’s beautiful that she managed to protect him and her other patients. this is one side of hannibal’s character, the one who’s a doctor and therapist and sees death as a cure from disease, even if the ‘disease’ itself is literally just discourtesy. it’s ultimately an act of power.

and yet in this same episode he flips a coin and saves bella on a whim. this of course is framed to others as an act of mercy, however the reality is he took bella’s power away in an act disguised as kindness. once again, he hides in plain sight. this is the other side of his character, and it’s just as deadly.

it’s still about power.

but we don’t associate acts of mercy with monstrosity. when hannibal comforts abigail in trou normand we question whether he’s as bad as we think, because what negative connotations are tied to paternal tenderness? we miss that hannibal is fostering dependency, that he literally looks dead in the eyes as he holds her, and that he blatantly just told us that he’s using abigail to manipulate will:

hannibal often does this actually. he either directly says what he’s doing or suggests that he’s the culprit (often through cannibal puns, as we know) but no one ever interprets him correctly because doing so would contradict the image he’s carefully constructed for himself. it would cause too much dissonance.

and what’s fascinating is that on a subtextual level this is largely what the show is about. the story is an exploration of societal roles and the struggle to fit into stiff categorisation and expectations. will parallels hannibal in this regard because he’s desperately trying to repress his identity by taking on certain roles. and the audience is lured by this persona the same way the characters are lured by hannibal because will defies our understanding of certain tropes. on a genre level, will assumes the detective archetype, meaning we are primed to think he’s inherently good. when we see him say he wants to save people we believe him, even though he often only does so to prove to himself that he’s a good person. will is indeed righteous, a characteristic we often view positively, however he’s violent, wrathful and actively enjoys murder due to how powerful it makes him feel. he’s not dissimilar to hannibal, we just don’t see this straight away because doing so would disrupt our understanding of good and evil.

will hides the same way hannibal does, except will hides from us as well

finalgirlabigailhobbs

“why did will trust hannibal unconditionally in s1? he’s supposed to be smart” well you see my friend, when you have no living family and your social circle only consists of an intelligent and attractive psychotherapist who keeps avoiding you, your boss, a forensics specialist who uses sassing for a defense mechanism, two other forensics guys who talk too much, and seven dogs; and THEN someone shows up who appears to not only be intrigued by your mind but also understand you on a level no one else ever has, and this someone also was the only one who brought you chicken soup during your hospital stay? i’d forsake my life for that person.

#real #no but truly i want someone who will bring me chicken soup when im in the hospita

craqueluring

i think this is my absolute favorite sequence of events in all of hannibal. will watches dolarhyde nearly choke hannibal out. you can hear hannibal gasping for air and you can see while dolarhyde has him, it does not look like he is able to fight back at all. hannibal looks beat.

if will just stayed put and let this happen, dolarhyde could've killed hannibal, and then will could've (at least tried) to kill dolarhyde. he could've run to get his gun and shot him, and hannibal and dolarhyde would both be dead, just like he originally planned with alana and jack. though obviously he wasn't actually planning it himself, still this eliminates any doubt.

but no, he pulls the knife out of his own shoulder and saves hannibal with it. he saved hannibal. he saved hannibal's life! this is such a "if i can't kill you, nobody can" moment. this is will choosing hannibal and everything that comes with him

and this is the exact moment 'love crime' starts playing. because hannibal saved will by jumping on dolarhyde's shoulders first just before will got his spine broken, and then will saved hannibal directly after. they are finally, after all this time, working in harmony.

#i have never known myself as well as i know myself when im with him #i love hannigram so much