What’s always been so interesting to me is that Will is mostly affected by intangible stimuli, emotions and implications and thoughts, his or other people’s that he can pick up on. He spins up whole temporary worlds in his mind’s eye with his perfect memory, he mirrors people’s speech patterns if he’s around them enough, his empathy soaks up the mere suggestions of emotions like a sponge for his interpretation. He wears non-prescription glasses to block it all out and takes them off when he wants to catch all the details. He moves around his environment in ways that reflect his feelings, ascending to the office balcony when he feels challenged by Hannibal and melting into the shadows when he lets his darkness loose to kill Randall.
But Hannibal is mostly affected by sensory stimuli— he savors his wine with his nose first. Sutcliffe, a former colleague, makes a quip about Hannibal being able to pinpoint the exact perfumes the nurses wore. If he could smell Bella’s cancer from paces away, he could do the same with Will’s encephalitis, yet he gets close enough to feel his warmth, the tickle of his hair. Every time we see a scene of him participating in Will’s mental decline, he’s comforting him with touch. He switches from psychologically soothing blues and browns to vibrant hues as he becomes more involved with the FBI, a poisonous predator in their midst.
At his freest, Hannibal bites Dolarhyde’s throat out and nuzzles Will to feel their proximity— and Will mirrors him, nuzzling into his chest in return, expressing the same sentiments in a way Hannibal understands intimately.
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