History Series / Hannibal

* AntiVillain: Hannibal Lecter, as a direct contrast to Will's AntiHero. It's implied [[spoiler: he performed a copycat-murder in the style of The Minnesota Shrike]] to point Will in the right direction (and [[ImAHumanitarian eat her lungs]]), but he also saves the life of the Killer's young daughter and stays at the hospital overnight with her.
** After giving the killer advance warning that he'd been found out, allowing him the opportunity to go on a rampage, and then pausing to observe Will try to save the girl before moving to help.

* BreakTheCutie: Everything that happens to [[spoiler:Abigail Hobbs after she wakes up]] only seems to drive her closer to, at the least, mental instability.

* CatchPhrase: Whatever Will Graham is either talking (or perhaps thinking) to himself at a crime scene or teaching a class, he often has "This is my design" somewhere in this.

* ActorAllusion: Will boasts "You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed", a reference to [[TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]. In the film ''Film/RedDragon'', Will Graham is played by EdwardNorton, who later played Bruce Banner in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk''.
** Will having some kind of autistic spectrum disorder is very likely a reference to {{Adam}} a romantic comedy in which Hugh Dancy played the titular autistic character.

* BodyHorror: The victims of the killer from the second episode. They have mushrooms growing out of their bodies, and are slowly being absorbed into the soil where they are buried. Will gently peels tape off the mouth of one of them. His lips slough off along with it. Then the man ''gasps''. He's still alive. [[spoiler: He dies shortly afterward, on the way to the hospital.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Zig-zagged with Graham, who claims to have an autism-spectrum disorder but doesn't elaborate much beyond suggesting Asperger's.

* AntagonistTitle: take a guess.

** Ironically one of the common traits of autistic spectrum disorders, particularly Asperger's is a lack of empathy, where Will Graham's defining characteristic is his extreme empathy which allows him to get inside the minds of the killers.

** Fuller has said that some of the murders we will see are the early efforts of [[spoiler: [[Film/{{Manhunter}} Francis]] [[Literature/RedDragon Dolarhyde]].]]

** Also, Will and Hannibal are talking in his office as Will absently peruses Hannibal's library. In Red Dragon, it's one of Hannibal's books that leads to Will discovering his secret.

* CatchPhrase: Whatever Will Graham is either talking (or perhaps thinking) to himself at a crime scene or teaching a class, he often has "This my design" somewhere in this.

* AdoptTheDog: The writers wisely employ this trope halfway through Episode 1, during which we've watched the odd and decidedly unsocial Will Graham replay 2 crimes in his head with him being the killer. So before Lechter has his first scene, they have Graham pick up a stray dog and get him to eat out of his hand. It's the first time we see him as human, and his genuine care for the dog, along with the other dogs he has at home, makes us realize that he is a good person--unlike Hobbs or even Lechter who would probably eat the dog.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Concern for Will Graham's mental health as a profiler if he happens to "get to close" when empathizing with killers prompts Crawford to compel Graham into therapy with psychiatrist Hannibal Lechter. Profilers, generally, tend to have mental breakdowns because they realize they share traits with the killers they hunt. This is a characteristic Graham shares, for example, with profiler Frank Black in {{Millennium}}. Frank Black had a total breakdown that forced him out of the FBI. Graham also feels that with his gift ComesGreatResponsibility, explaining his need to sleep in victim's Abigail Hobbs' hospital room night after night--something Crawford questions but Lechter understands.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Concern for Will Graham's mental health as a profiler if he happens to "get to close" when empathizing with killers prompts Crawford to compel Graham into therapy with psychiatrist Hannibal Lechter. Profilers, generally, tend to have mental breakdowns because they realize they share traits with the killers they hunt. This is a characteristic Graham shares, for example, with profiler Frank Black in "Series/Millennium" Frank Black had a total breakdown that forced him out of the FBI. Graham also feels that with his gift ComesGreatResponsibility, explaining his need to sleep in victim's Abigail Hobbs' hospital room night after night--something Crawford questions but Lechter understands.

** Freddie Lounds is mentioned in "Apéritif" by Crawford as a blogger who posted details of the Minnesota Shrike murders on tattlecrime.com. Then we get to see her naked from the waist up in "Amuse-Bouche."

* BodyHorror: The victims of the killer from the second episode. They have mushrooms growing out of their bodies. Will gently peels tape off the mouth of one of them. His lips slough off along with it. Then the man ''gasps''. He's still alive. [[spoiler: He dies shortly afterward, on the way to the hospital.]]