every time i go on twitter or tiktok and see a post about hannibal lecter or will graham’s characters, they’re always incorrect interpretations. It makes me feel insane. Why do you guys not grasp Hannibal’s motivations for what he does with Will and vice versa.
It’s not, “Hannibal put himself in jail because he was desperate for Will to notice him and he sat like a good boy for three years waiting for him to come back!”, it’s “Hannibal put himself in jail because he knew that was the one way to continue to have control over Will, by torturing him with the knowledge of his location, activity, and motivation, at all times; because he knows that Will wants it and will come back to get the scent.”
Hannibal enjoys dominating and controlling. Will resents being dominated and controlled, but the only way he comes into his true self is by Hannibal doing this to him. Once he sees Hannibal, he throws this control back at him, and uses soft appeals to Hannibal’s emotions, i.e. crying and saying pretty please, as means of manipulation. By season 3 they’re in an intense push-and-pull, where Hannibal is so happy with his effect on Will (and Will’s submission to it), that he lets himself be pulled off the cliff (i.e. controlled by Will).
I feel like I’ve witnessed the fans become… dense? I feel like it wasn’t like this before, or maybe I just wasn’t as involved and didn’t notice. AGH!!!!!!
