#robertus lecter

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

The thing about Hannibal’s planned life for him, Abigail, and Will is that the grand European tour for the both of them was going to be heavily sanitized. A very strange word to use for Hannibal, but it’s the truth.

After Mizumono, Hannibal went to France and then Florence with Bedelia. Since Bryan was planning to feature Robertus in France (a very awkward “Hi Dad”), we can assume that Hannibal planned to introduce Will to the man who mentored him and helped him perfect his craft and person suit. Then in Florence, he would show him how he became a man and explored and put that craft to action. Quite beautiful, actually. If it wasn’t so stuffed with decorum and lies.

What Hannibal wanted to show Will was the pretty stuff. The tableaus and the tale of how the boy became the beast by careful mentorship. The beautifully spun origin tale to make him look nice and pristine. Not the ugly story of all of his worst memories and the things that torture him daily. The things he desperately wanted Will to understand and accept, but was too scared to show and tell. And the things Bedelia became privy to because he had lost control.

Even with all of his planning, Hannibal was still going to try to heavily control this narrative he was building with Will just like he did with Abigail. The fact that Will went backwards in time and jumped all the way to Lithuania to see the ugly stuff probably terrified him to no end.

Because this narrative was now changing and the ugly stuff he had desperately tried to hide was now coming out whether he wanted it to or not.

[sourweather-fics]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

"So," she says, and begins pulling items from her bag. "I brought this white candle that my mom likes to put in the dinning room when she's trying to show off." She sets it in the center of their bodily circle, placing her usual silver lighter beside it. "And I got some incense. It smells like cinnamon. And I also brought some salt, just in case." "In case of what?" Alana asks, dubious. "Which one of us knows what they're talking about?" Margot shoots back, and Alana smirks. "None of us, I think." Margot just rolls her eyes. Alana is right, of course. Her girlfriend's fascination with fancying herself a 'witch' only began within the past month, she's barely more informed than Hannibal himself. Still, someone had to host their seance, and Margot was the best candidate available. Margot takes her lighter in hand, lights the incense and the candle. She takes a deep breath, shakes the nerves from her arms, and fixes Will with a wicked grin. "Okay, Will— whose ghost are we summoning? Marilyn Monroe? Ted Bundy? Maybe a dead Victorian chick who got burned at the stake for showing some ankle?"

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

Things Hannibal probably learned from Robertus and Murasaki:

From Robertus

- All Lecters are unusual although he is the biggest exception to the exception, therefore he truly is alone in the world.

- The foundation that they (Lecters) aren’t wrong. Society is wrong.

- It is 100% okay to murder people who are rude as they are nothing but pigs.

- The allure of hedonism and indulgence and all the great things it has to offer.

- The knowledge of the arts and the ways they can be applied to kills and tableaus.

- The pride of an artist and that they don’t like to have their work stained or have anyone else take credit in any way.

- Drawing your lover/muse naked as a form of worship and affection.

From Murasaki

- The art of cooking and cuisine and how to present dishes in presence of guests.

- Martial arts and marksmanship.

- Finesse and decorum and the foundations of the many parts that make up the “person suit”.

- Family values are important and you must always help when you can.

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

Looking back at Hannibal Rising, Robertus Lecter’s type of lifestyle and his overall behaviors are honestly very reminiscent of how Hannibal acts in the series although it’s a different color and flavor.

Robertus was a very proud man of high social standing, but didn’t give two shits about societal norms or a proper society. He was a subversive artist who actively undermined his own government and was sent to prison for defying the Nazis and the French order. People would praise him for his beautiful art, but he would more or less brush off the brown nosing and idol worship. He didn’t do it to be praised. He did it because he liked it and believed in his overall defiance of societal order. He also didn’t really believe in the idea of “finesse” and taught Hannibal the same, but did look to Murasaki when it came to teaching such things to him.

In regard to his family, he got Murasaki as a wife at the behest of her family simply for the fact that he wanted her and no one was going to tell him no. He claimed the Count Lecter name even while his older brother, Hannibal’s father, was alive and took it on officially after he died. As for Hannibal, he took him in and immediately claimed him as his own and decided he was going to work on him so he would be his son. He took great care in making sure he was cared for in every way and didn’t give a care when he beat up other kids. Hannibal was too good for them and far too intelligent to be bothered by those lower than him. He also lived very much in the now and as a result was not very careful with his money. Therefore when he passed, his estate was taken and so was everything inside to pay for the death duties, leaving Hannibal and Murasaki with basically nothing to their name.

Robertus had a certain charm to him that entranced everyone around him. It made everyone immediately respect and like him. And such respect extended to Murasaki who was his wife and Countess.

If much of Robertus’ character traits are the same for the novel as it was in the series, then I can think that Hannibal learned from and emulated his uncle in many aspects of his life. It gave him a structure and foundation, but it also capped his true potential by giving him a person suit to strictly work within society and not outside of it. After all, Robertus wasn’t identical to Hannibal. A Lecter he may be, but a divine supernatural being he was not.

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

I always felt that it would be aesthetically appropriate for Chiyoh to recite the poem that Murasaki recited to Robertus in Hannibal Rising to Will post-fall.

She could be talking about herself or rather she could be talking about Hannibal. She’ll leave that for Will to guess, but she’s made her point.

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

I do wonder how much Robertus had a hand in Hannibal’s road to vengeance towards the man in the cave for what he did to Mischa.

We know that Robertus was Hannibal’s mentor during his fledgling years and he very likely encouraged and influenced his artistic talents as well as how to conduct himself in public with his “person suit”. We also know that he has an understanding that all Lecters are unusual and they eventually grow into their skin if they’re uncomfortable with it when they’re young. Beyond that however, we aren’t quite sure where he lands in the spectrum of amorality and his overall relationship with Hannibal.

The novel gives us a few ideas of what kind of man Robertus was. He was a proud artist who didn’t really care for societal norms, but enjoyed all the benefits that came with his social standing. He was fiercely protective of his family and house staff and when he adopted Hannibal, he immediately claimed him as his own and come hell or high water, he was his son. Strangely, he didn’t seem to mourn the loss of his brother and almost seemed to view him as competition to the Count name. However, he was very knowledgeable of the fact that all Lecters were unusual and would grow into their skin eventually. He died of a heart attack after attempting to publicly murder the man who was racist towards his wife. He also drew said wife naked quite frequently.

If anything I can say, Robertus probably influenced Hannibal in a way that highlights the unusual nature of Lecters and also his expensive tastes. And as such, I can’t imagine that he would have stopped or prevented him from being who he was supposed to be. It’s a type of love that seems distant yet smothering at the same time. The type that’s possessive and can at times cross boundaries. Not unlike the type of love Hannibal has for others.

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

Robertus seems like the type of person to hate Will at first for ruining his “masterpiece” that is Hannibal without understanding that he had always been incomplete at the hands of his tutelage.

What he did was raise the Devil to be himself by rejecting and mocking society, but ironically shackling him within it by sewing him into a “person suit”. That’s practically the same as putting him into a chrysalis without ever expecting him to evolve. Because he sees him, but doesn’t understand him, he probably believed this was the best that Hannibal could ever be without seeing how wrong he was. Some part of Hannibal probably always knew that he was in an incomplete form, but lived in satisfaction because this is what he knew.

What Will did was reach into the chrysalis and violently ripped it open from the inside, allowing Hannibal to finally emerge and be birthed as his complete form. No longer bound by the fear of being seen or to live by any standards of decorum or aesthetics. Letting go of what he knows and truly becoming the Devil he was meant to be.

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

If we look at the timeline, Hannibal left the man in the cave with Chiyoh 25 years ago before the Europe arc and therefore he would’ve been 24-26 years old (he was born in 1964 per his FBI profile and he was 49 at the time of the pilot). By this time, he would’ve already engaged in his acts as Il Mostro in Florence and became a man, as he put it. This has more significance than we think.

Before Hannibal was Il Mostro, he was still a fledgling and a cub. He had yet to become the man we saw in the pilot. He was still being shaped by the world and its many influences and was being mentored by Robertus to become what he was supposed to be. If the murder of Paul Momund is canon to the series, Paris was a training ground compared to Florence which was his own blank canvas to explore as an artist. Needless to say, his experience as Il Mostro and the impact on his life left him forever changed. He could do anything now. At least within the confines of society.

Since Chiyoh knows about Florence from stories, but has never been, at some point Hannibal likely returned to France to tell her about it. He also came back a changed man. A big cat. And at some point, he likely tracked down the man who raped and killed Mischa and planned to kill him, but ultimately chose to save him for Chiyoh. Like all sister/daughter surrogates he would create, this would be her “test” to see if she could make it as a killer who could join him in his world. She also likely served a dual conflicting role to fulfill his desire to keep his dirty secret safe in Lithuania where it would never be touched.

Although the idea of Hannibal just being dropped onto the earth with all of his knowledge and skills already intact as the Devil is truly appealing, it’s also interesting to think that Hannibal did actually go through the stages of life like any other animal. It makes him seem more like an incarnation of the Devil who just happened to be born on this particular planet and this particular universe.