Hannigram and romantic intimacy always makes me feel a certain kind of way, even if some of what we might assume with that is drawn from the novels and inference or interpretation of show details….. I think it’s possible they’d never had a sexual relationship that involved personal connection and non-sexual intimacy before. With Will kissing Alana as a “paddle”, having sex with Margot and marrying Molly after what must’ve been 1-2 years or so and Hannibal’s shallow, manipulative relationships with Alana, Bedelia and his implied one-and-done with Antony, they both seem prone to short-term relationships or hookups.
Will’s a loner, he traveled with his working dad before he went off to the NOPD and then to get his forensics degree, which isn’t exactly conductive for “going steady”. He was afraid of others seeing his “weakness” with mental health issues due to his empathy and his job, his shameful dark urges, the way he could potentially read a partner like a crime scene, all his differences. His fantasies seem to mix the unsettling and violent with eroticism, he may have seen himself as a risk to a partner whether or not that was true. Alana mentioned that Will flirted to get his way in conversations (which is proven true in S2), it’d make sense for him to have the occasional one night stand as his habitual format for relationships. Will’s character in the show is a combination of Clarice and Will’s in the novels, I can see him having the same prior experiences with “sticky fumblings in the dark”.
In the novels, Hannibal was a flirt because it amused him and stroked his ego. In Hannibal Rising he winked at girls at a crosswalk on his motorcycle much to their delight and was asked out by a pretty female student who approached him even though he was a known loner, which he declined. While he was in Paris for his bachelor’s, he was focused on hunting down his family’s murderers and building his skills, so I assume that he “became a man” (aka lost his virginity) in Florence when he was killing as Il Mostro which he did as a young man in the novels as well. His bedroom in Baltimore had a padded bench at the foot of his bed, two large mirrors with a view of it and lots of phallic decor. Everything in his life is centered on extreme self-mastery so that he can control others, it makes sense that bdsm knowledge would be another tool.
Based on all this, I personally think it could be very possible that neither had ever had a romantic relationship, or felt love in that way— only sexual ones with people they didn’t deeply care about or connect with. Science tells us that a strong emotional connection with a sexual partner can make the experience physically and mentally different with how hormones and the brain react to and process the act. In Chinese mythology, all connections are believed to be fated. Zhengyuan (“right fate”) is a relationship with a person often described as your soulmate, a healing eternal one of acceptance and truth. Nieyuan (“twisted fate”) describes painful relationships that lead to obsession, upheaval and personal lessons. Hannibal and Will embody both at once in their soul-deep bond. They found their first true friends, equals, confidants, nurturers and loves in each other. It’s only fitting that their first experience of total intimacy with another might be together as one.
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
prguitarman
pixelskylines
