The Lamb’s Wrath: Will Graham and Righteous Violence
One thing I find extremely interesting about Will Graham is that he justifies his violent behaviour through the concept of righteousness. While Hannibal is driven by curiosity, aesthetics and enjoyment, Will is primarily the opposite: he’s led by impulse. He hardly ever premeditates his murders, and he’s only cruel to people who “deserve it” This righteousness is at the heart of his character. In this sense, it is him rather than Hannibal who is playing God.
The first time we see Will’s righteousness addressed is early in the show. Hannibal recognises this trait in Will very quickly, and we see this in Apertif when he states that Will is “the mongoose [you want] under the house when the snakes slither by.”
Hannibal is saying that he would use Will to protect himself against a “snake.”, ie danger, or an antagonist. He thus frames Will’s violent tendencies as reactionary. Will is not a lion, not a bird of prey - he is compared to an animal who strikes only when it is necessary. Not only that, but Will is framed as a secret weapon, hiding in the shadows. It is clear that Hannibal’s words shake Will, because Hannibal is the first person to recognise this part of him.
This idea is explored further in Amuse-Bouche, when Will and Hannibal are discussing Stammers. Hannibal says, in reference to Hobbs, “It’s the inevitability of a man being so bad that killing him felt good.” And of course, Will refutes that with killing Hobbs felt “just”.
Will frames his first murder as justified - to him, it was the right and morally sound thing to do. Interestingly, Hannibal follows this up by mentioning how Will could kill Hobbs because he understands him. By intertwining empathy and righteousness, we see how Will’s capability to kill comes from a place of responsibility - he knows his victims better than anyone, and thus feels obligated to, and is able to, kill them.
I also want to point out that Will distinguishes between “good” and “just”. For Will, this early in the show, righteous violence is much easier to stomach than violence just for the sake of it. However, in this scene he also confesses he “liked killing Hobbs.” and here we see the heart of Will’s character. He enjoys righteous violence, and he feels guilty for enjoying it. For him, the guilt makes the act not “good”, but still justified and enjoyable. This conflict between participating in righteous violence and feeling guilty for it will shape Will’s character for the rest of the show. The most interesting part of this scene, to me, is that Hannibal follows up Will’s confession with a discussion of divinity. “Killing must feel good to God too.” This is not the first time he will compare Will’s righteous violence to God’s.
With the introduction of Abigail, we see that Will participates in righteous violence because he also cares deeply for victims (almost as if they were his own victims). His immediate attachment to Abigail Hobbs shows how he feels an obligation to protect people he perceives as weak. In the case of Abigail, he deludes himself she is an innocent victim, and refuses to believe she participated in her father’s crimes. His own inferiority complex causes him empathise with others who are rejected from society, or the “underdog.” Think of any case from NBC Hannibal and you can see Will doing this. Thus through caring for the victims, Will demonstrates how he views his violence as a means to help them.
This is made clear in Sorbet, when Hannibal saves a man’s life with his bare hands and Will looks at him with pure admiration. To him, the act of saving the weak is as righteous as killing the strong. In this scene he treats Hannibal kindly, brings him a gift, and regrets he can’t stay longer. He sees the ability to help others as a positive trait. Will’s compassion for the “weak” will never change - we still see it in how warmly he treats Reba in season 3.
Another scene, this time in Fromage, proves it. When Will finds out that Hannibal killed Tobias in self defence, he is not repulsed or even wary. In fact, he sits on the edge of Hannibal’s desk and smiles down at him. He is warm, kind and soft spoken. He positions himself as the dominant character in this scene, and he wishes to take care of Hannibal not only because he is weak, but because the act of killing Tobias, to Will, is justified. It was the right thing to do. To Will, Tobias’ death was deserved, and he never has a moral dilemma about it.
But he does have to grapple with his morality later, when Hannibal confirms that Abigail killed Nicholas Boyle and he helped her. This is a different scenario because Will is aware that Nicholas Boyle did not actually deserve to be killed. He was a young man who made a mistake and was mourning. Will cannot frame his murder under righteousness, but his compassion for Abigail and Hannibal overpowers his moral compass. To him, Abigail still represents goodness and weakness, and so he excuses it. It’s difficult for him, but he forgives them, like God forgiving a sinner. After all, Will knows better than anyone that there is a thin line between just and unjust violence. He will lie for them, but he is clearly not very happy about it. If they weren’t Abigail and Hannibal, he would view the scenario differently.
There is also another element to Will’s righteousness. His biggest fear is that he will become who he kills. There are two major examples of this. In season 1, Hannibal gaslights Will into thinking he killed Abigail, and it traumatises him. He believes he has become the very thing he despises. After all, he only ever wanted to protect Abigail. In season 3, Chiyoh says that Will needs to kill Hannibal because “he fears he will become him.” Therefore, Will’s righteous violence is a self protective mechanism. He kills what he fears he will become, as if he is trying to kill that part of himself.
Hannibal is a fantastic show because it sets up character traits (Hannibal’s “apathy”, Will’s “righteousness”) and tests them to their limits. With these three elements in mind - righteous violence, compassion, and the fear of becoming what he kills - let’s move on to the limits of Will’s righteousness. In my opinion, this is the most interesting part of the show
Part 2: Dismantling the Illusion
When Will finds out that Hannibal is the Chesapeake ripper, his very first instinct is righteous violence. This fits perfectly with his character arc. He has spent the previous season empathising with the ripper, he has learned about the ripper’s victims, and he has also been personally betrayed by the ripper. His fury that Hannibal betrayed him will continue through the rest of the show, but it is most apparent in those early episodes when he is coming to terms with it.
The fury on his face gives me chills. He’s literally trembling with anger. It’s one of my favourite scenes in the entire series because he finally sees Hannibal and his reaction is visceral. Hannibal killed Abigail, who was dear to Will. He killed other innocent people. And he manipulated Will. The betrayal hurts deeply. It spurs Will into action.
And from this moment Will tries to kill Hannibal three times. But Hannibal is correct in later stating that each time, Will was “hiding” in one way or another. The first time Will hides behind his gun. The second he sends someone else to kill Hannibal. The third he hides behind his gun again. Throughout season 1 Will did not hesitate to kill his victims. And yet in season 2 he hesitates over and over again, but only when it comes to Hannibal. I don’t think he ever even wanted to kill him. But why?
Because before he didn’t know his victims personally. He understood their violence, certainly, but he didn’t have a personal connection with them as people. Will saw their worst parts, their murders and dark sides, not their humanity. He has spent the entirety of season 1 getting close not only to the Ripper, but Hannibal himself, and he cannot kill Hannibal because he got too close. He knows him too well and is too fascinated by what he sees to kill him.
Once we understood Will’s righteousness and empathy as one and the same. Now they are incompatible. Season 2 becomes a battle between righteousness and empathy. Will wants to kill Hannibal because it is just, but he can’t because he understands him too well. Empathy vs righteousness. Will’s emotions begin to cloud his moral judgements.
And the most poignant example of this is how Will tells Hannibal that he fantasises about killing him. Over and over again they discuss how Will would kill Hannibal “with his bare hands” and we even see Will kill Hannibal in his imagination on screen yet he never Actually does it. He has many opportunities - for example when Mason Verger kidnaps Hannibal - and he just can’t. Will is constantly explaining to Hannibal how he wants to kill him but is unable to. It is something he struggles with continuously as he grows closer to Hannibal in season 2.
Thus Will’s aim stops being killing Hannibal but imprisoning him instead. Will admits to Hannibal desperately in Mizumono that he didn’t want to take Hannibal’s life (“no no not your life no”) but doesn’t deny he wanted to imprison him. The furthest thing to righteousness Will believes he can achieve is locking Hannibal away so he can’t kill anyone else.
This naturally leads our discussion into how Will’s illusion of righteousness begins to unravel the closer he gets to Hannibal.
The first example of Will’s righteousness in season 2 follows a similar pattern to season 1. He wants to protect Peter (another underdog) and feels extreme compassion for him, and thus he is furious with Clark Ingram. His face here says it all.
This moment itself might’ve been typical of earlier scenes if it were not for the words that follow: “pick up the hammer.” Will is not going to kill Ingram with the gun - he wants something much worse, and much more violent. His vision of righteousness is being distorted. What once could be solved with murder is now being solved with extreme violence. Bedelia says later that “extreme acts of violence require a high degree of empathy.” She’s half right - after all, Will is so demanding with Ingram because of his empathy for Peter. But this time, he wants carnage. Ingram is looking at him with desperation, he looks pitiful to be honest, but Will sees nothing except fury and blood. Here, he takes on Hannibal’s flare for the dramatic. He wants a fitting end to Ingram’s life. He wants it to be... artistic.
And he doesn’t regret his behaviour here either. Will admits later he only wishes he hadn’t let Hannibal stop him. Will has become far more comfortable with righteous violence than he used to be. His lack of regret will lead us into more disturbing territory with the death of Randall Tier.
Will imagines killing Hannibal when he kills Randall. This is interesting because it means that Randall’s behaviour is not enough in itself to deserve such violent retribution. I don’t think Will would’ve beaten Randall violently earlier in the series - he doesn’t even treat Hobbs with that much brutality. But now, the extreme violence is justified because it’s a means to an end. Randall is a way to get closer to Hannibal. He has to convince Hannibal of his genuinity by killing Randall, and thus he sees Randall as a necessary sacrifice. Like God, he makes sacrifices for “what’s right”. He never used to see people, even his victims, as collateral damage.
Plus, Will very clearly expresses compassion and admiration for a serial killer. He displays Randall respectfully, and says he admired him. He even states that he envies Randall for growing into himself far better than he has. And yet he still feels no guilt for killing him. He enjoys it: the Randall in his mind tells him “I didn’t force you to enjoy it.” So now we see that illusion of righteous violence is beginning to blur. The most damning moment in all of this is that Bryan Fuller confirmed Will gave Hannibal Randall’s meat in the pretence it was Freddy’s and voluntarily ate it. He ate his victim. What righteousness is in that? Once more, Will continues to imitate Hannibal’s style of killing. He is consuming Hannibal, and becoming him.
But Will still can’t kill Freddy Lounds. This is extremely important because it shows that Will is still bound by his own moral code, even as the limits of his righteousness are being tested. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is because Freddy has done nothing as serious as to deserve violent retribution. Will only reacts to her with contempt. The other is because I don’t think Will wants to empathise with Freddy. He dislikes her and sees her as a nuisance, rather than a threat. Will knows that Hannibal wants him to become free from the bounds of morality, and so he must shed the skin of “righteousness.” In reality, this transformation takes Will a very long time, but for Hannibal he pretends it has already come. After all, Will can excuse his earlier crimes, but Freddy is for all intents and purposes innocent. And Will is still fervent in his belief that he will not kill innocent people.
There are two more important things I need to discuss now. The first is Mason Verger. Will empathises with Margot and wants Mason to die because it’s justified, right? Yet he watches Hannibal torture Mason with glee and lets Hannibal control the situation, despite knowing that Hannibal only sees Mason as a problem. Here we see that Will derives joy from seeing Hannibal commit extreme acts of violence. Yes, to him it is justified, but the fact he allows Hannibal to fulfill what he wishes to do himself is a damning sign that Will’s righteousness has evolved. It involves Hannibal, despite the fact that Hannibal represents what he despises. Here Will is willing to participate in Hannibal’s style of killing. We will later see this pattern again when they kill Francis Dolarhyde together.
In this moment Will looks at Hannibal with a smile of admiration, and then he literally prepares himself for the pleasure of seeing Mason killed. It is still a righteous act, to him, but he is not the same Will Graham that shot Garrett Jacob Hobbs. He’s far from it.
And thus comes the climax of this discussion: Mizumono. The fact that we do not know throughout the episode what Will is going to do demonstrates how much our perception of him has changed. In season 1 we could excuse his violence, because we always knew he was doing the right thing - in season 2 it is much harder to view him as a moral character. He imagines killing Jack, who does not deserve it in his eyes. He even tells Jack later that he considered running away with Hannibal. What? Is this righteous, Will?
What is very important to note is that Hannibal is not righteous. He does not need justification to kill anyone. He has killed many, many innocent people and he creates art out of them. He understands them and then he eats them. Yet Will adores him. He is constantly by his side, fascinated by his mind, drawing him out of his person suit. Two opposites are pulled together so closely that they become each other. I think Will struggles immensely with this. To him, Hannibal is everything he doesn’t want to be, yet he clings to him. Part of him will always want to run away with him.
That is what season 2 is. Will is taking on Hannibal’s traits. He is becoming more extreme, more himself. The more people he kills the more he begins to blur with Hannibal. His righteousness becomes loose and fluid. What once made him guilty now makes him feel powerful. The limits of “just” and “unjust” can no longer be defined.
And Will finally breaks the illusion of righteousness permanently when he calls Hannibal and tells him “they know”. That is not a righteous act. Warning Hannibal is the opposite of righteous. Will is well aware of the fact Hannibal will leave, free, and kill more people. But he wants him to leave. He wants him to be free. He enables Hannibal for no other reason that he cares about him and admires him and he shrugs off the moral righteousness that used to guide his behaviour to let Hannibal go free. Will is willing to sacrifice lives. Righteous? Where? There is no more “righteousness” here. I mentioned before that imprisoning Hannibal is the closest thing Will could achieve to righteousness, but he can’t even bear that anymore. Will is very human in this scene. He is letting go of everything he believes in just to let Hannibal go free. In the end, love and empathy overpower righteousness.
And when he goes to Hannibal’s home and see Alana on the ground he talks to her for just a moment and then goes to find Hannibal. He sees blood under the door and knows it might be Jack but he doesn’t even care. When Hannibal says “we couldn’t leave without you” Will’s face softens and he looks ready to leave with Hannibal, until Hannibal guts him.
The moment haunts Will afterwards. We only ever saw him guilty after killing, but this time, he is guilty because he hurt someone he loved. The heartbroken Will at the beginning of season 3 isn’t righteous. Not at all. He’s sorry. He’s hurting and he misses his friend and he sails across the ocean to find out more about him. It’s the aftermath of Mizumono that guides Will from this moment on. From now, we will see Will evolve and become his true self.
Part 3: Denial and Acceptance
Season 3 gives us a new question: how does Will react to his own amoral behaviour in season 2? He knows fine well that he can no longer call his emotions and his behaviour righteous. So how will he deal with his own corruption? And how is he going to redeem himself?
Well, Chiyoh gives us our answer. Will confesses to her if he doesn’t kill Hannibal, he will become him. The answer is simple: he has to kill Hannibal. To avoid his own downfall, he must kill him. There’s no other choice. It is the only way he can forgive himself. It’s the only way he can avenge Abigail. And it’s what he was meant to do from the beginning.
Sure enough, Will’s interactions with Chiyoh confirm that he is actually becoming Hannibal. He manipulates her, even though he empathises with her situation. He’s curious what she will do, and she calls that out. And finally, he makes a beautiful display for Hannibal. I think some part of him still does this out of righteousness, but there is another part that is sending a gift to Hannibal. He thinks it’s a fitting tribute to Chiyoh, Mischa and Hannibal. That’s art, not righteousness.
I think something else that’s interesting about the first few episodes of season 3 is that Will is trying to empathise more with Hannibal. He thinks that if he understands him better he will be able to kill him. But I think it just does the opposite.
Something I haven’t touched on yet is how Hannibal saving Abigail makes Will realise that Hannibal has a heart. Hannibal demonstrates in Mizumono the capacity to care about and love Will. He shows Will how much he valued their life together and how much he wanted a future with Will and how complex he truly is. I think Will’s trip into Hannibal’s past just solidifies his belief that Hannibal is a real person with a history, with emotions, and that it just makes it harder for him to kill Hannibal.
In Dolce, Will is genuinely overcome with joy to see Hannibal again.
In his eyes are so many emotions. Warmth, joy, regret, admiration, adoration, resignation, awe, pain. He isn’t faking anything now, I really believe that, because he has no reason to. This is one of the most honest scenes in the series. It is one of the only scenes where Will allows all of his feelings for Hannibal to show on his face.
The most important thing Will says here is “every crime of yours feels like one I’m guilty of.” Will’s greatest fear has come true: he has become what he wants to destroy, and now he shoulders the weight of Hannibal’s crimes - which, of course, are far from righteous.
Will is telling the truth when he says this. It’s the reason why he pulls out his knife afterwards. It’s because he can’t stand knowing he is the same as Hannibal now. He can’t stand knowing he loves him and empathises with him so much that he has become him. Will thinks that if he kills Hannibal he can somehow revert to the person he was before knowing him, but we all know that’s not true. “Before you, and after you.” The line between tolerance and delight.
The events that follow this moment put immense strain on Will. First, Hannibal tries to kill him, and the mutual betrayal is bitter between them. Then, they almost die under the hand of Mason Verger. In both scenarios Will has time to think about what he should do, and the conclusion he finally comes to is heartbreaking.
Hannibal sets an injured Will down in his own bed. Will wakes up and finds the equation to turn back time on his bedside. Then he makes another attempt at being righteous.
“You delight, I tolerate.” Will draws the line between him and Hannibal again. Firmly. Will is saying that he tolerates violence for the sake of righteousness, while Hannibal delights in violence for the sake of violence. At this point, after all Will has done, it’s a blatant lie, but the rejection is a desperate attempt at regaining his old self. Will is definitely in pain as he rejects Hannibal. For him, Hannibal is a promise of indulgence and violence and delight. But Will convinces himself he still wants to be righteous. He no longer wants to become Hannibal, so he does what he tried to do in season 2: imprisons him.
Will says later that he knew Hannibal would turn himself in if he rejected him. He implies that he wanted to know where Hannibal was, so he could always find him if he needed to. Does he mean that Will knew he would inevitably succumb to his true urges?
Following their emotional goodbye, Will makes himself a safe family and avoids the FBI. He becomes what he sees as moral and just, and tries to view his past as a necessary evil. After all, Hannibal is imprisoned, so he did his job after all. But what’s funny is at the first promise of madness and violence, he leaves his family immediately.
When he sees Hannibal again, Will attempts to remain righteous. He addresses Hannibal politely. He pretends to be only interested in the case. I think he’s trying to convince himself that the only reason he wants to visit Hannibal is to save the families involved. He thinks he sees his own family in the victims of the great red dragon. I think Will chose to have a family so he had something to protect and defend - he had a reason to be righteous. There’s a reason why the case of the great red dragon is so focused on families, after all.
In reality, Will sees himself in the dragon. Francis and Will are the same. Francis kills people as a means to his becoming - it is not righteous. Will, for a while now, has been killing as an act of transformation, rather than righteousness. Francis is trying to stop for the sake of Reba. Will is trying to stop for the sake of normality. They both fail and eventually become their true selves.
Hannibal and Francis immediately begin to influence Will’s behaviour. There are three things that stick out to me. The first is that, when Hannibal sends Francis after Molly, Will tells Bedelia he imagines himself killing her over and over again. Killing Molly would not be righteous - she is innocent, it would be the opposite of what he believes in. Yet now he imagines it, and projects the blame onto Hannibal, as if Hannibal controls his imagination. In reality, the extreme shift from Will trying to be professional to imagining killing his wife signals how flimsy his own sense of righteousness has become. Hannibal has changed his life. There’s no way to return from him. And at the slightest danger to his family he does not become righteous - he imagines himself as the perpetrator. His empathy for Hannibal clings to him even now. He made a family so he could be righteous, but Hannibal takes that from him. If it’s so easily lost, did he ever truly care about it at all?
The second, and most damning, moment of season 3 I want to talk about is when Will sets up Chilton to be captured by Francis. And to be tortured brutally. Chilton is innocent, and he’s hardly a threat, yet Will puts him in direct danger because he’s... curious what will happen? It’s not righteous. It’s something Hannibal would do, not Will. And yet he puts his hand on Chilton’s shoulder and insults the dragon under his name knowing fine well that he’s placing Chilton under immediate threat. He didn’t need to do it. Yet he schemes it so well that Bedelia later calls him out on it and Will says he isn’t really surprised at the outcome?!
Later, Hannibal calls Will a “cunning boy”, but Will rejects the idea that he set up Chilton. I think Will doesn’t want to give Hannibal the pleasure of knowing he’s right. Both of them know Hannibal is right, but to confirm it - to say it out loud - means Will has to accept that he has become Hannibal. It’s the same as a love confession. Will won’t allow Hannibal this confession. He’s very good at keeping his emotions hidden. Francis says it perfectly - “your face is closed to me.” Will has to keep his cards very close to his chest as he figures out who he is becoming.
Which brings me onto the final “righteous” act of Will Graham. First, the instigator. Will asks Bedelia if Hannibal is in love with him. She confirms it, and asks “do you ache for him?”. Will doesn’t respond, but we all know the answer is yes. Will aches for the indulgence, artistry and violence that Hannibal represents. He wishes dearly to be Hannibal, to shed his righteous skin. He is in love with Hannibal, too. And how will he deal with this?
By letting Francis “change” Hannibal.
I think this represents, for Will, the only way to kill Hannibal. Because he knows now that he’s in love with Hannibal and he can’t bring himself to do it, so he places the responsibility on Francis and thinks that at least then, he can feel righteous. It is a desperate attempt at removing Hannibal from his life and regaining his righteousness. Will is aware from the beginning that this is his final chance to redeem himself. I think he genuinely does hope that somehow he can be righteous again by letting Hannibal die.
Following this moment, Will sets into motion a plan to free Hannibal from the prison. He tells Bedelia he doesn’t intend Hannibal to be caught a second time, and what he means is that he’s going to let Francis kill Hannibal, but what Bedelia knows is that Will won’t be able let Hannibal die. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him. She’s well aware that Will will inevitably let Hannibal escape, or escape with him: either way, she is going to die. She is incredibly shaken in this scene because she knows that despite Will’s conviction, he can’t let Hannibal die. He’s never been able to. They will come for her. And deep down, Will knows it too.
I enjoy one of the discussions Jack and Hannibal have about the lamb, God, and the devil. Will is obviously the lamb. Hannibal says something like “save us from the wrath of the lamb”, and what’s interesting about that is Hannibal sees Will’s righteousness and knows how easily it can become violent, uncontrollable wrath. To him, Will is a weapon. A dangerous one. And despite this illusion of righteousness, Will’s wrath will touch everyone. After all, he spends the second half of season 3 manipulating everyone around him. His wrath is to be feared.
From the moment Hannibal’s escape we see that Will is not going to be righteous. He doesn’t spare so much a glance for the dead bodies around him as Hannibal smiles at him and asks, “going my way?”. He doesn’t try to kill Hannibal at any point, though he had ample opportunity to. Then Will tells him, over glasses of wine and moonlight, I don’t think I can save myself. Maybe that’s just fine.
He says the words meaningfully. He looks Hannibal in the eye and speaks softly, under the moonlight, holding onto a glass of wine. It’s a confession. It’s honest. Of course Hannibal turns away, making space between them, because he believes Will could betray him again. But Will is telling the truth. He’s not sure that he can save himself from Hannibal. He’s not sure he can be righteous. I think Will is aware here that even if Hannibal dies, he still won’t be saved. There’s no way to redeem himself now.
Then Francis arrives, and Will looks down at a weak and injured Hannibal, and he’s forced to make a decision.
Will he choose righteousness?
Will he delight, or tolerate?
Will reaches for his gun. It’s symbolic of him giving up righteousness for Hannibal. When he does so, his gun is taken from him, and he’s given a small knife instead. No longer can he hide behind the brief and righteous violence of the gun - now he delights in carnage.
They kill Francis together, and when Will looks at Hannibal, bloodied under the moonlight, his face is savage. He delights in the moment. He looks down at the bloody wings spreading from Francis’ back and sees beauty.
An important part of this scene is that Will and Hannibal complete the act together. “This is all I ever wanted for you, Will [...] for both of us.” It’s this that Will says is beautiful. He finds the act of killing with Hannibal to be beautiful. Because Hannibal does not kill for righteousness. And in that moment, neither did Will - he killed because it was beautiful to change Francis.
They embrace on the cliff top, overcome by the euphoria of the moment and love for each other. When Will pulls them off the cliff, he is reaffirming what Bedelia said. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him. Will knows he can no longer be righteous, and he can’t live without Hannibal, but he also can’t bear to be what he has always feared he’ll become: so he pulls them from the cliff.
I know there are a lot of theories about post season 3 and while I do think they survived the fall, I also think Will took a gamble with their life. It was a calculated decision. Whether they died together or survived together, it was both “degrees of disadvantage”. Either way, Will could no longer be saved. I don’t think he minded whether they lived or died. Both would be a fitting end to their old lives.
I do think he will still participate in righteous violence in future. I also think that he still has compassion for vulnerable people. I don’t think those parts of his personality could ever truly be gone. But I do think that his definition of righteousness has been changed by Hannibal, and I also think that he is no longer restricted by morality. He feels no guilt, no remorse. He embraces life, and curiosity, and can excuse Hannibal’s actions because he loves him. His love for Hannibal changed him. Because he empathises with Hannibal, because he fell in love with him, he has become someone new. Someone who can commit extreme acts of violence simply because they are beautiful.
It’s moving, in its own way.
His character arc has been very carefully constructed. Watching him change from that righteous, rigid man in season 1 to the powerful and manipulative man he is in season 3 is so interesting to watch. I love the idea of righteousness being both his saving grace and his downfall. Hopefully I expressed that in my extremely long post lol
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