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rhodrymavelyneWarning, here there be spoilers for the TV series Hannibal. You may want to watch it yourself before you read this.
I’ve watched the entire series multiple times. I’ve got a different interpretation than wiki of why Hannibal Lecter smiles at the end of Savoreaux. I agree that Hannibal smiled because he’d won, but the victory wasn’t locking Will Graham in a cage. Hannibal may already be suffering some of the regret that's going to hit him time and time again during the second season over Will’s incarceration. I wondered if he wasn’t feeling it when he watched Will being taken away by the F.B.I. on the front porch of Will’s home in Wolf Trap, Virginia. I wondered if Dr. Lecter didn’t feel a twinge of regret in Relevés when Will left his office, right before he put into motion his plot to have Will accused of murder. When Hannibal wept in therapy with Bedelia Du Maurier, maybe his grief was genuine. We’re left to think he’s weeping over Abigail, only later he’ll show up with a plate of her to share with the person he shared his grief with. Hannibal told Dr. Du Maurier that in trying to save Will, he lost Abigail. In truth, it was the other way around. In trying to save Abigail from arrest and incarceration by faking her death, he sacrificed Will. He’s going to feel the loss of that sacrifice again and again. Why, then, is Hannibal smiling at the end of Savoreaux? What was the real victory?
Perhaps it’s something extremely simple, yet complex, the fulfillment of a desire which was foreshadowed throughout the first season. Hannibal got Will to see him.
Will is looking at Hannibal Lecter in that last moment, truly seeing him without the haze of sickness in his way. His mind clear, Will can still see Hannibal through the stitching of the person suit Bedelia Du Maurier described in Sorbet. Will was clever enough to climb the walls Bedelia noted that Hannibal spent a lot time building in Fromage. No one else can see Hannibal Lecter. He’s fooled everyone but not Will Graham. That knowledge isolates Will from everyone else, sets him apart from everyone who ever tried to get close to him. No one believes Will but Hannibal knows and Will knows that Hannibal knows. This takes the two of them away from everyone else to their own private world where they belong to each other. Never mind that Will is looking at him with such hostility. Their shared secret still makes Hannibal smile. Considering how Will avoided his eyes from their very first meeting in Apertíf, how Will discussed the Chesapeake Ripper's crimes with a faraway gaze, this is a personal victory. Will is looking at the real Hannibal. Will is seeing him with clear eyes. It calls into question whether the phantoms who’ve been haunting Will; Garrett Jacob Hobbs and Georgia Madchen, urging him to see, haven’t somehow been serving Hannibal all along, for all that he orchestrated their end. The first hurdle to any kind of real friendship, which Hannibal has come to realize is not as casual a relationship as he’d once thought, has been overcome. Will Graham has overcome it. Perhaps Will has scored a major victory as well in this, but it’s a victory Hannibal wanted him to win. They’re a step closer to each other and the friendship Hannibal desires.
There it is, my Flight of Fanciful Fandom, but I truly believe there is some real merit, based on the canon of the series itself to support this theory. One of the fascinating things about Hannibal is there are many ways to interpret the events of this show. This is one of them.
I’ve watched the entire series multiple times. I’ve got a different interpretation than wiki of why Hannibal Lecter smiles at the end of Savoreaux. I agree that Hannibal smiled because he’d won, but the victory wasn’t locking Will Graham in a cage. Hannibal may already be suffering some of the regret that's going to hit him time and time again during the second season over Will’s incarceration. I wondered if he wasn’t feeling it when he watched Will being taken away by the F.B.I. on the front porch of Will’s home in Wolf Trap, Virginia. I wondered if Dr. Lecter didn’t feel a twinge of regret in Relevés when Will left his office, right before he put into motion his plot to have Will accused of murder. When Hannibal wept in therapy with Bedelia Du Maurier, maybe his grief was genuine. We’re left to think he’s weeping over Abigail, only later he’ll show up with a plate of her to share with the person he shared his grief with. Hannibal told Dr. Du Maurier that in trying to save Will, he lost Abigail. In truth, it was the other way around. In trying to save Abigail from arrest and incarceration by faking her death, he sacrificed Will. He’s going to feel the loss of that sacrifice again and again. Why, then, is Hannibal smiling at the end of Savoreaux? What was the real victory?
Perhaps it’s something extremely simple, yet complex, the fulfillment of a desire which was foreshadowed throughout the first season. Hannibal got Will to see him.
Will is looking at Hannibal Lecter in that last moment, truly seeing him without the haze of sickness in his way. His mind clear, Will can still see Hannibal through the stitching of the person suit Bedelia Du Maurier described in Sorbet. Will was clever enough to climb the walls Bedelia noted that Hannibal spent a lot time building in Fromage. No one else can see Hannibal Lecter. He’s fooled everyone but not Will Graham. That knowledge isolates Will from everyone else, sets him apart from everyone who ever tried to get close to him. No one believes Will but Hannibal knows and Will knows that Hannibal knows. This takes the two of them away from everyone else to their own private world where they belong to each other. Never mind that Will is looking at him with such hostility. Their shared secret still makes Hannibal smile. Considering how Will avoided his eyes from their very first meeting in Apertíf, how Will discussed the Chesapeake Ripper's crimes with a faraway gaze, this is a personal victory. Will is looking at the real Hannibal. Will is seeing him with clear eyes. It calls into question whether the phantoms who’ve been haunting Will; Garrett Jacob Hobbs and Georgia Madchen, urging him to see, haven’t somehow been serving Hannibal all along, for all that he orchestrated their end. The first hurdle to any kind of real friendship, which Hannibal has come to realize is not as casual a relationship as he’d once thought, has been overcome. Will Graham has overcome it. Perhaps Will has scored a major victory as well in this, but it’s a victory Hannibal wanted him to win. They’re a step closer to each other and the friendship Hannibal desires.
There it is, my Flight of Fanciful Fandom, but I truly believe there is some real merit, based on the canon of the series itself to support this theory. One of the fascinating things about Hannibal is there are many ways to interpret the events of this show. This is one of them.
