Hey. I love your blog. And I want to ask you something; does Harris ever hint or even mention something about Hannibal being bisexual/pansexual? Aside from Krendler's comments, that is. Thank you so much :)
I’m sorry–I hate to be the bearer of bad news (and of canon reality, since most Tumblr-bound fans often have a hard time acknowledging it), but…no.
The only person Hannibal ever expresses any canon romantic or sexual interest in whatsoever is Clarice Starling. Full stop.
It’s also hinted that he was something of a ladies’ man before his arrest. Socialite Rachel DuBerry tells Clarice that he “sort of made a girl’s furcrackle, if you know what I mean.” I haven’t read Hannibal Rising, but if you count that that as at least semi-canon, it’s more evidence that, well…
Put simply, that Hannibal is well and truly straight.
There are some definitively non-straight characters in the trilogy (namely Margot Verger); it isn’t as if Harris doesn’t acknowledge their existence. But it’s pretty safe to say that Hannibal is not one of them.
Even if he wasn’t strictly straight, he demonstrates single-target sexuality (towards Clarice) anyway, and she to a slightly lesser degree towards him. (It’s a fictional trope, not an actual sexuality, but it applies nonetheless. Clarice is the object of a great deal of male interest, and even goes on a date with Pilcher in Silence, but she reciprocates almost none of it until the end of Hannibal.)
I also think it’s pretty telling that Krendler assumes that Hannibal is gay simply because he has refined (but what always struck me, at least, as distinctly masculine) tastes. He also assumes Clarice and Ardelia are lovers because they live together and Clarice spurns his advances. Neither is the case. Hannibal is never shown as a sexual being at all until Clarice’s conversation with Rachel, and then again much, much later in Hannibal.
Even if you’re aware of Krendler’s comments, I think its worth seeing in writing again (all emphasis will be mine):
“He was seen at concerts in Baltimore years ago with severalattractive women… […] None of themwas ever harmed to our knowledge, and none has ever agreed to speak about him.We don’t know anything about his sexual preferences.”
“I’ve always figured he was a homosexual.”
“Why would you say that, Mr. Krendler?”
“All this artsy-fartsy stuff. Chamber music and tea-party food.”
I think we can all agree that Hannibal, had he preferred or at least wanted the company of men, would’ve been seen “with several attractive men” instead or as well. It may have been the late 70s/early 80s, but if anyone does what he wants and damns the consequences, it’s Hannibal.
Anyway, Krendler is shown by Harris as being unequivocally wrong–not in so many words, of course, but the narrative’s distaste for Krendler goes hand-in-hand with Clarice’s own.
And frankly, the clips and stills I saw from the show always gave me the impression (i.e., his peacock-feather Christmas trees and the like) that Fuller was playing up the same (incorrect) view of Hannibal’s “artsy-fartsy” tastes to imply a sexual subtext that was not in any way present in the books. Maybe I’m wrong–maybe audiences would’ve read that absurd ship into the NBC show regardless. But I agree with some others that Fuller made Hannibal’s taste over-the-top and flashy, rather than simply high-class.
Krendler makes the same assumption the same about Clarice, and is just as wrong then:
“The Starling woman…does not evidence any stable personal relationship with a man. Shelives with a former classmate, a young African-American woman.”
“That’s very likely a sex thing,” Krendler said.
The psychiatrist did not even spare Krendler a look. Krendler wasautomatically overruled.
Then there’s this exchange early in Hannibal:
“Laura, allow me to present Dr Fell. Doctor, this is Signora Pazzi, my wife.”
Signora Pazzi, accustomed to being praised for her beauty, found what followedcuriously charming, though her husband did not.
“Thank you for this privilege, Commendatore,” the doctor said. His red andpointed tongue appeared for an instant before he bent over Signora Pazzi’shand, his lips perhaps closer to the skin than is customary in Florence,certainly close enough for her to feel his breath on her skin.
His eyes rose to her before his sleek head lifted.
We don’t see Hannibal interact with many women aside from Clarice (Senator Martin is the obvious exception), but I think his introduction to Laura Pazzi gives us a taste of the kind of “fur-crackling” charm of which Hannibal was capable towards women. He’s polite to (most) men, but he interacts somewhat differently with women–put simply, he turns on the charm.
I don’t know if we’re directly discussing Will Graham here or not. But if we are (really, even if we’re not) I think it’s worth a little compare-and-contrast.
After Will’s first visit:
He thought he might surprise Graham with a call sometime, or if the man couldn’t be civil, he might have a hospital-supply house mail Graham a colostomy bag for old times’ sake. [Red Dragon]
Versus the end of Clarice’s first visit:
“I could make you very happy on Valentine’sDay, Clarice Starling.”
“By sending you a wonderful Valentine. I’ll have to think about it. Now please excuse me. Good-bye, Officer Starling.” [The Silence of the Lambs]
But what really stands out to me are the letters Hannibal sends Will and Clarice at the end of their respective books.
To Will from prison–where Will put him–after sending the Red Dragon to kill him:
Here we are, you and I, languishing in our hospitals. You have your pain and Iam without my books - the learned Dr. Chilton has seen to that. We live in a primitive time - don’t we, Will? - neither savage nor wise. Halfmeasures are the curse of it. Any rational society would either kill me or give me mybooks. I wish you a speedy convalescence and hope you won’t be very ugly. I think of you often.
And to Clarice, after his escape and after helping her catch Bufallo Bill:
Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?You owe me a piece of information, you know, and that’s what I’d like.[…] I won’t be surprised if the answer is yes and no. The lambs will stop for now. But,Clarice, you judge yourself with all the mercy of the dungeon scales at Threave; you’llhave to earn it again and again, the blessed silence. Because it’s the plight that drives you,seeing the plight, and the plight will not end, ever.I have no plans to call on you, Clarice, the world being more interesting with youin it. Be sure you extend me the same courtesy.
Dr. Lecter touched his pen to his lips. He looked out at the night sky and smiled.
I have windows.Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever beagain before the year 2000. (I have no intention of telling you the time and how high itis.) But I expect you can see it too. Some of our stars are the same. Clarice.
He’s full of scorn for Will but full of praise for Clarice.
In short, there is no evidence whatever that Hannibal is interested in a) other men or b) really anyone besides Clarice. He may, once, have been a ladies’ man or at least had several female lovers (Rachel DuBerry’s comments certainly imply as much), but in the timeline of the trilogy (Red Dragon, then Silence, set five years later, then Hannibal, set seven years after that) Clarice is his only interest.
Moreover, canonically, he makes active and repeated attempts to off Will, whereas he never does anything but help and assist Clarice–albeit in his slightly twisted ways.
I’m sorry for the long-winded reply, but I’m tired of so-called fans (not necessarily you, Anon!) reading whatever they please into other people’s work despite the evidence that is (or is not) present in canon, then acting like it’s objectively obvious/true.
Let people ship who they want to ship, I suppose. But don’t let them pretend that there’s textual support for it, or that it’s in any way legitimate/canon, just because they want it to be.
And as much as we all love Hannibal…he’s still a vicious serial killer, described probably fifty times throughout the series as a monster. Does anyone really want that kind of representation…?
