History Series / Hannibal

** Actually, there is a farm in Spain that produces foie gras not through force-feeding, but through the ducks or geese overfeeding themselves. The farmer there in Spain has them gorge themselves on acorns and olives. So the force-feeding part is actually avoidable, so when Hannibal says that he patronizes an ethical, cruelty-free butcher, it can be inferred that the butcher makes foie gras this way. With this information, and if it were confirmed this trope could actually be [[SubvertedTrope subverted.]]

** Actually, there is a farm in Spain that produces foie gras not through force-feeding, but through the ducks or geese overfeeding themselves. The farmer there in Spain has them gorge themselves on acorns and olives. So the force-feeding part is actually avoidable, so when Hannibal says that he patronizes an ethical, cruelty-free butcher, it can be inferred that the butcher makes foie gras this way. With this information, and if it were confirmed this trope could actually be Subverted.

* AnimalMotif[=/=]ArcSymbol: The black deer with feathers for fur that shows up in Will's dreams.
** The ravenstag represents Hannibal and Will's relationship. A stag sculpture is seen in Hannibal's office.

* HasTwoMommies: [[spoiler:Alana]] and [[spoiler:Margot]]'s son.
** Invoked with Abigail throughout the series. Will and Hannibal both think of themselves as her substitute father, and they're first framed as her parents jointly when Hannibal says they "are her fathers now" in season 1. Hannibal's escape plan in season 2 largely revolves around the project of running away together as a family; Will indulges in this same fantasy when he finds out. Later on in season 3, in opposition to Molly giving Will a (step-) son, Hannibal claims ''he'' "gave Will a child" first.

* TheyDo: Now with compulsory bloodbath.

** In Season 1, Alana shows romantic interest in both Will and Hannibal, but keeps her distance for various reasons. By the middle of Season 2, [[spoiler:Alana and Hannibal [[TheyDo are lovers.]]]]
** Between Will and Hannibal in Season 3, mostly as a result of Will's dilemma about admitting he enjoys killing, which makes him keep his distance from Hannibal. In the Season 3 finale, [[spoiler:Will reveals through his actions that [[TheyDo he reciprocates Hannibal's feelings]] and they finally share a tender embrace after the joint killing of Dolarhyde.]]

* SignificantSketchbook: In "Buffet Froid," Hannibal asks Will to draw a clock face in a sketchbook. When he draws it, he thinks he sees a perfectly normal clock face, but Hannibal sees the numbers and hands jumbled up. This is an actual test used by psychiatrists to detect cognitive dysfunction. In "Savoureux," Alana asks Will to repeat the test to prove that he is mentally ill and did not consciously commit the murders for which he is accused, but the evidence is negligible as they realise he could have faked the test. Hannibal produces a normal drawing of clock face which he shows to Alana, claiming it was drawn by Will, when in reality he drew it himself.

** TheChick: [[TheHeart Alana Bloom]]

*** TheChick. Freddie Lounds.

* ArmourPiercingQuestion:

** Will [[spoiler: willingly participating in cannibalism (apparently finally "seeing" Hannibal completely) with Hannibal seems to bring the psychiatrist genuine exuberance.]]

* AllLesbiansWantKids: Margot is desperate for a male heir to take over the family business so she can be free of Mason. In season 2, she sleeps with Will to get pregnant, and after that doesn't work out she [[spoiler: and her girlfriend Alana steal Mason's sperm so Alana can get pregnant and they can have a son together]].

** At the end of "Naka-Choko", when [[spoiler:Freddie Lounds discovers the shed in which Hannibal and Will have hidden the dismembered body parts of Randall Tier]], she finds herself with [[spoiler: Will who certainly ''appears'' to her as (and may in fact be becoming) a psycho]].

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier. [[spoiler: Season 3 reveals that she has a fairly messed-up view of morality, preferring the idea of killing something injured instead of nursing it back to health. A flashback also reveals she initially tried to help a patient choking on his own tongue, but then became overwhelmed with the control she had over him and killed him by sliding ''her whole arm'' down his throat]].
* AmbiguousSituation: In the season three finale, [[spoiler: after embracing following the murder of Dolahyde, Will pushes himself and Hannibal off of the cliff and into the Atlantic ocean. It's possible he intended for both of them to die once he fully succumbed to the violent urges Hannibal had spent the entire series trying to bring out, but it's also possible Will did so in an attempt to evade the FBI. He warns Bedelia of his plan to let Hannibal escape beforehand, and that Hannibal will most likely come after her, implying this was his plan. On the other hand, there was likely a much less dangerous way for them to both escape. This is assuming [[UnreliableNarrator this really happened]], and is not just one of Will's intricate hallucinations.]]

** [[spoiler: Though suffice to say, Mason Verger ''really'' had it coming (both times).]]
* AteHisGun: An elaborate subversion in the case of [[spoiler: Francis Dolarhyde]].

** Also, [[spoiler: Mason Verger cuts off his own nose and eats it in "Tome-wan".]]

** Season three shows Will juggling a normal marriage to sweet, uncomplicated Molly and his continued magnetic draw toward his serial killer cannibal ex-psychiatrist. [[spoiler: [[OfficialCouple He ultimately chooses Hannibal]].]]

* BirdsOfAFeather: [[OppositesAttract Despite being drastically different people]], twitchy, unsociable, empathetic Will finds a deep connection with the charming, approachable, sadistic SerialKiller Hannibal Lecter due to [[LonelyTogether their shared emotional distance from other people and the loneliness they've both suffered as a result]], enough that he [[spoiler: gives up any semblance of a normal life to be with him since his company and affection proves ''that'' addictive to him.]]

** Four words: [[spoiler: "You slice the ginger."]]

** In "Mukōzuke", we find out what happened to [[spoiler:Beverly Katz]], and it's so awful that everyone who sees it is visibly horrified: [[spoiler: she was sliced vertically and preserved between panes of glass, like a museum exhibit.]]

** In "Ko No Mono", [[spoiler: Mason has his sister Margot forcibly sterilized by having her reproductive organs removed after bribing a doctor to claim it was medically necessary.]]
** Direct from the novel ''Hannibal'', "Tome-wan" gives us [[spoiler: Mason blissfully cutting off bits of his own face to feed to the dogs thanks to Hannibal's drug cocktail, then having his neck broken]]. It's especially notable in that neither the book nor TheFilmOfTheBook depict the scene in as much [[{{Squick}} graphic detail]] as the show.

** In "Digestivo", Cordell threatens to [[spoiler: cut Will's face off without anesthesia]]. Followed by a sequence that implies this is actually happening... turns out it's [[spoiler:Hannibal cutting ''Cordell's'' face off.]] And then he puts it on Mason.
** Arguably, Dolarhyde's journey into the Red Dragon is an inversion of this trope. [[spoiler: Having grown up with an exaggerated sense of his own deformity (a cleft lip) in the midst of death (his grandmother and the nursing home she ran), Dolarhyde creates body horror where there is none. Looking at his hands, he realizes he is aging and activates the Dragon as a defense mechanism against his fear of his body decaying.]]

** A lot of the advertising for Season 2 featured Will in a face mask similar to Hannibal's famous one, and "Mukōzuke" sees him similarly outfitted -- face mask, straitjacket, strapped to a wheelie cart -- so that [[spoiler: he can visit Beverly's crime scene]]. Likewise, the orderly's warning to Freddie -- "Do not accept anything he gives you..." is word-for-word Chilton's warning to Clarice on her first trip to see Hannibal.

** [[spoiler: The fishing lure we see Hannibal examine in "Œuf" initially seems just a detail to make him look creepy. But in the first season finale, "Savoureux", the lures are used to frame Will for ''Hannibal's'' murders; traces of his victims were found on the lures, as if Will had been keeping them as trophies.]]
** Mason's eel, which [[spoiler: he chokes on after Alana and Margot murder him.]]

** Used to its logical extent by [[spoiler: Jack when fighting Hannibal in Italy]]. He sneaks up on his foe after taking off his shoes and playing covering music, disarms him, throws him through two glass cabinets, maims him with a meat hook, and then keeps his enemy on the ground while he repeatedly punches him in the face. His victim only has the chance to throw one decent blow, and it misses.

** An especially emotional version of this happens in [[spoiler: the Season 3 finale]]. Will isn't crying per se, but he still lays his head on [[spoiler:Hannibal's chest, overwhelmed after killing Dolarhyde with him and seeking comfort from his beloved]].
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Jack versus Hannibal round 2. Hannibal doesn't even land a hit, and is forced to hobble away with serious wounds, and only survived due to luck.]]

** [[spoiler: Beverly Katz]] appears in ''Literature/RedDragon'', but is killed long before those events play out in this version.

* DepravedBisexual: Mason Verger qualifies, but given that he's far from the only major bi character (with [[spoiler:Alana]] currently in a same-sex relationship and [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will]] having had relationships with women and being in love with each other, despite their sexuality being unstated), the unfortunate implications of the trope are pretty well averted.

* DissonantSerenity: [[spoiler: Abel Gideon]] seems only mildly peeved when he realizes that [[spoiler: Hannibal has amputated his leg with the intent of serving it up to him as dinner. Then he tucks in and gives his compliments to the chef.]]

** Hannibal [[spoiler: shoves a long, thin object down Will's throat to force him to do something against his will, for which he will be blamed afterwards. Will even has a traumatic flashback to it later, which makes it seem extremely similar to a situation of RapeAsDrama]].

* {{Elopement}}: The second half of season two of has Hannibal and his [[MadDoctor patient]]/[[MindGameShip frienemy]]/[[OneTrueLove soulmate]] Will plotting on murdering Will's boss Jack and leaving their old lives behind together, complete with plans to go to Italy and to have [[spoiler: Abigail, whose survival Hannibal had been keeping secret to surprise Will, join them.]] [[GoneHorriblyWrong It doesn't work out according to plan]] [[ConflictingLoyalty since Will's loyalties were deeply conflicted.]]
** In season three, [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will do escape alive after viciously killing Dolarhyde together, admitting mutual romantic feelings drenched in blood before Will throws them into the ocean.]] Although his true intentions ([[TakingYouWithMe whether he wanted them to survive or not]]) aren't known because the show was cancelled in its prime, WordOfGod has confirmed that they did survive and would spend a hypothetical season four on the run as an OutlawCouple.[[invoked]]

** Season 3 features Alana teaming up with Mason Verger to capture Hannibal, [[spoiler:then later assisting Hannibal in order to stop Mason from killing Will.]] In the series finale, Will and Hannibal also team up to [[spoiler: kill the Red Dragon, although they're [[BattleCouple clearly allies]] by this point.]]

* EvilTastesGood: Hannibal, [[IAmAHumanitarian obviously]], but [[spoiler: Will later partakes in cannibal dinners alongside him, though mostly as a way to endear Hannibal to him.]]

** "Takiawase" continues the trend, with a killer who [[spoiler: performs twisted lobotomies by sticking metal pins in people's eyes.]]

*** TheBigGuy: Beverly Katz, [[spoiler: [[SacrificialLion unfortunately for her.]]]]

*** TheSixthRanger: [[spoiler: Alana Bloom. She only realizes what's going on in the finale of Season 2 though.]]

---> '''Hannibal:''' Before we begin eating, you must all be warned: [[BlackComedy Nothing here... is vegetarian.]] ''Bon appétit.''

** In "Mizumono", Will helplessly watches as [[spoiler: Hannibal slices Abigail's throat open, too grievously injured to protect her from the same man who had secretly kidnapped and controlled her since the first season. The episode ends with Will -- horribly injured and bleeding out on the kitchen floor -- desperately trying to staunch the blood flow from Abigail's throat.]]

*** Eventually subverted in Season 3, with [[spoiler: Hannibal willingly turning himself in, so that Will would always know where to find him. Will does retire, but when Jack Crawford pulls him back in to work on the Red Dragon case, Will ends up hatching a deliberately flimsy plot that ends with Hannibal breaking out of prison, and the two of them kill the Red Dragon together and fall off a cliff in each other's arms.]]
** According to early interviews, Fuller has roughed out several years worth of plot, calling Season 1 the "bromance" between Hannibal and Will, and Season 2 "the ugly breakup", while Season 4 is "basically ''Red Dragon''", which in turn might possibly feature [[spoiler: Freddie Lounds' death, if they plan to kill her off in the series.]]

** The fate of [[spoiler: Mason Verger]] is essentially true to the book version.

* FrameUp: Hannibal does this a few times throughout the series. Season 1 ends with [[spoiler: Will imprisoned in the Baltimore State Hospital for Hannibal's killings]], and in "Yakimono" [[spoiler: Chilton finds himself the target of the Chesapeake Ripper manhunt after Hannibal leaves the corpse of Abel Gideon and a few FBI agents at his house.]]

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: [[spoiler: Dolarhyde steals a police car, which enables him to approach the convoy transporting Hannibal without attracting attention. He then kills the officers and FBI agents escorting the prison van by shooting them through the cruiser's window]].

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Will goes from doing some morally ambiguous, but still understandable things, (such as trying to have Hannibal killed) to something unambiguously evil in the episode "Naka-Choko". He takes that much further during the course of Season 3 until [[spoiler: in the end he gives fully into his murderous side: he brutally kills Dolarhyde side by side with Hannibal and he enjoys it, telling Hannibal what they just did is "beautiful".]]

* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Abigail Hobbs]] in Season 1's "Relevés", [[spoiler:then subverted]], followed by [[spoiler: Beverly Katz]] in Season 2's "Takiawase".

* LonelyTogether: A huge basis for Hannibal and Will's [[OddCouple odd but (eventually) mutual relationship]]. The former is distanced by his intelligence and removal from the rest of humanity, while the latter is so overcome with his intense empathy disorder that he actively avoids other people. Turns out Hannibal adores Will's extraordinary senses and [[MindGameShip the challenges he presents]], while Will is drawn in with Hannibal's charisma, intelligence and later [[spoiler: [[OneTrueLove his unwavering romantic attention]].]]
---> Will: "[[BirdsOfAFeather You're right. We are just alike.]] [[LonelyTogether You're as alone as I am. And we're both alone without each other."]]

** Season two features Hannibal exclusively dating Alana while he courts Will in secret, almost mentoring him in the art of murder, and plans on starting a new life with him [[spoiler: and Abigail.]]
*** When Alana visits Will to ask him if he [[spoiler: killed Freddie Lounds]] in "Ko No Mono", we get this tense exchange:
----> Alana: "I don't think Hannibal is good for you, [[DestructiveRomance I think your relationship is destructive."]]
----> Will: [[BitchInSheepsClothing "Hannibal's good]] [[GreenEyedMonster enough for you."]]
** Season three has Bedelia unwillingly taking Will's place as Hannibal's partner in hiding, the two playing married couple with intimacies such as him washing her hair in the bath and eventually sharing one kiss with her. All this while he, of course, is pining for Will who single-handedly sails across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe in order to find him. [[BitchInSheepsClothing Will and Bedelia spend the rest of the season viciously snarking at one another]] [[TheRival like petty rivals in a love competition]]. [[spoiler: [[MurderTheHypotenuse Will wins their game at the end of the series by reciprocating Hannibal's love, with Bedelia's leg ending up on their dinner plates]].]]

*** Intersecting with his PsychoPsychologist and MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate tags it's begun to be suggested that while acting as a therapist Hannibal "treats" patients by helping them to realize and act upon desires that would, in general society, be deemed as destructive. This is evidenced in his treatments of Will, [[spoiler: Margot]], and Randall Tier.

** Matthew 27:3-10 describes the suicide by hanging of Judas Iscariot. After subduing and accusing him of betraying Will, [[spoiler: ''Matthew'' Brown tortures, crucifies, and then hangs Hannibal.]]

*** Speaking of Matthew Brown, he is an orderly whose name almost sounds like a reversed version of Barney Matthews, the orderly from ''The Silence of the Lambs.'' Seems fitting since he tries to [[spoiler: kill Hannibal]] whereas Barney is civil to Hannibal.

** The man whose [[spoiler: identity Hannibal steals after choosing him as a murder victim for his rudeness]] is called Dr. Fell. As in, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_do_not_like_thee,_Doctor_Fell "I do not like thee, Dr. Fell"]] (and, also, as in a Dean of Christchurch College, the person supposedly referenced in that rhyme).

** "Kaiseki/Sakizuki": The beginning of [[spoiler: Will's incarceration]], the end of [[spoiler: Bedelia's professional and personal relationship with Hannibal]], and the hunt for the killer who preserves his victims' bodies in resin.
** "Shiizakana/Naka-Choko/Ko no Mono/Tome-wan": [[spoiler: Will and Hannibal seem to become explicitly partners in crime, Will and Jack set to work in earnest trying to lure and catch Hannibal]], and the abusive relationship between Mason and Margot Verger is spotlighted.
* MurderSuicide: Arguably what Will tries to do in [[spoiler: "The Wrath of the Lamb"]] as a last attempt to save himself/his and Hannibal's potential future victims knowing that he won't be able to stop, but so that he and Hannibal can still die in each other's arms. According to the cliffhanger and WordOfGod, [[spoiler:it fails. They survive and are now on the run together]].[[invoked]]
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Hannibal tries to do this to [[spoiler: Molly and Walter]] by proxy through [[spoiler: Dolarhyde]], while it was likely [[GreenEyedMonster Will's]] decision to [[spoiler: go after his former love rival Bedelia at the end of the series]].

** In "Œuf", Hannibal uses psychotropic mushrooms in a tea as a means to treat Abigail. [[spoiler: She hallucinates that Hannibal and Alana are her father and mother.]]
** An even darker example occurs in "Tome-wan" when a cocktail of very powerful drugs helps induce severe hallucinations, giddy euphoria, and [[spoiler: self-mutilation and auto-cannibalism]] in [[spoiler: Mason Verger]].

* NeverTrustATrailer: The promos for "Futamono" showed [[spoiler: Hannibal seducing Alana, and implied that he was only doing so as petty revenge against Will. In the actual episode, Hannibal does it to establish an alibi for himself]].
** The season three/series finale ''Wrath Of The Lamb'' advertisements showed Hannibal's lines "Your wife, your child, they belong to me" alongside shots of Will and Molly, when really [[spoiler: he's speaking to Alana about Margot and their son, and Will had nothing to do with the scene at all]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Currently DramaticIrony, but there's going to come a point where Jack realizes how many lives he could have saved [[spoiler: by letting Matthew Brown hang Hannibal]] instead of saving him.

** Also in Season 2, after [[spoiler:Bedelia claims that Hannibal is dangerous,]] he shows up at her house [[spoiler:in his plastic murder suit]] to find [[spoiler:Bedelia has emptied her house apart from some of the larger items (such as furniture).]] Her [[spoiler: perfume bottle is left behind, left in plain sight so Hannibal knows that she knew he would come, and that he can't find her]] with his senses.
** Continuing with Season 2, Hannibal [[spoiler: realizes Will has betrayed him when Hannibal picks up traces of Freddie's scent on Will]].

** After the season finale, Bryan Fuller confirmed that [[spoiler: it was Abigail.]] (But that may not have been ''all'' she saw.)

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Matthew Brown speaks with a lisp, walks with a slouch, and behaves like a twitchy, absent-minded orderly who's just trying to go about his job like any other normal person. In reality, [[spoiler: he is Will's secret admirer and an intelligent, well-built, calculating murderer whom nobody suspects, not even Hannibal.]]

* OhCrap: Chilton has a pretty epic freak-out in "Yakimono", [[spoiler: when the true extent of Hannibal's frame-up is revealed and FBI agents are found butchered throughout his home.]]

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Mukōzuke", [[spoiler: Freddie tells Jack not to enter a crime scene out of what appears to be genuine compassion.]]

* OutlawCouple: [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will]] would have become this if season four had come to fruition. WordOfGod has confirmed they would have spent the season pack hunting together, likely in Cuba.[[invoked]]

* PairTheSuitors: a double version-- in season two, Hannibal and Alana Bloom are a couple. Will has some mutual interest with Alana, but has sex with Margot. [[spoiler: Both couples split up, and in season three, Alana and Margot become a couple, while Will and Hannibal have a romance. Slightly subverted, in that it's strongly implied Hannibal always liked Will, and only had sex with Alana [[OperationJealousy to make Will jealous]]. ]]

* ReligiousHorror: Hannibal Lecter is portrayed as a [[SatanicArchetype satanic figure]], deceiving, corrupting, and destroying those around him. To boot, Season 2 abounds with religious references. When Hannibal [[spoiler:installs James Grey in his own human "mural", it is intended to reflect the light of God from above. When Hannibal looks down on the mural from the opening of the grain silo, it's reminiscent of medieval art in which God looks down on Earth from above.]] Hannibal refers to Matthew 26:69-75 in "Hassun", telling Jack that he cannot deny Will a third time. Finally, in "Mukōzuke", [[spoiler: Matthew Brown arranges Hannibal like Jesus on the cross and nearly hangs him for being a Judas.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Bedelia Du Maurier is savvy enough to get the heck out of dodge after she refuses to be Hannibal's psychiatrist anymore -- which proves to be very wise, since he breaks into her house clearly dressed to kill her.]]
** [[spoiler: Chilton attempts this when Hannibal frames him for multiple murders - Jack Crawford captures him, though.]]
** [[spoiler: Alana, Margot and their son go into hiding when Hannibal escapes.]]

** Not that Will starts the series as a killer willingly, but as his character develops from twitchy and nervous to composed and confident under Hannibal's influence, he does eventually start committing more murder attempts and actual murders, [[PayEvilUntoEvil realizing more and more that it feels good to do bad things to bad people]]. He starts the series shooting Garrett Jacob Hobbs to death, went after Abel Gideon, he [[spoiler: killed Randall Tier in self defense after Hannibal sent him his way, almost shoots Clark Ingram for being human garbage, goads Hannibal into breaking Mason's neck hoping it would kill him, and eventually he and Hannibal take down the Great Red Dragon together.]] He eventually reveals in the finale that [[spoiler: he considers these acts "beautiful."]]

* {{Sleepwalking}}: By "Coquilles", Will develops a bad case of this, waking up in the middle of nowhere and having to be picked up by a cop car. [[spoiler: Later in the episode, the sound of his dogs barking wakes him up, to find he somehow managed to get out onto the ''roof''.]]
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Freddie Lounds. Chilton takes her place as Dragon bait, though he survives the treatment.]]

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: What happens to [[spoiler:Dolarhyde]] in "The Wrath Of The Lamb". The guy is [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown beaten savagely]] by [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will]], stabbed twice in the legs, [[InTheBack twice in the back]], axed in both knees, then stabbed and [[RasputinianDeath cut across the stomach at the same time his throat is ripped out]]. Needless to say, he [[DeaderThanDead doesn't survive the treatment]].

* ThreeWaySex: A strange variation on this, as the people involved ([[spoiler:Will, Hannibal, Alana, and Margot]]) aren't ''all'' having sex with each other, but through a kind of ImagineSpot, the audience sees it this way. [[spoiler: It makes even more sense in retrospect, given who ends the series romantically involved with whom.]]

* TogetherInDeath: Averted. [[spoiler: [[TakingYouWithMe Though Will's true intentions]] [[OutlawCouple are unknown given the show's cancellation]], TheStinger and WordOfGod both confirm that he and Hannibal survived their clifftop plunge.]][[invoked]]

** The Season 2 trailer ''seems'' to give away that [[spoiler:Jack and Alana will discover Hannibal's secret, and he will try to kill them]], as well as the WhamLine by Bedelia where she tells Will [[spoiler: she believes his claims about Hannibal]].
** The promo for "Mukozuke" reveals that [[spoiler: Will's attendant in charge of transporting him to and from trial killed the bailiff.]]
** The trailer for "Primavera", the second episode of Season 3, reveals that [[spoiler: Will, Jack, and Alana all made it out of Hannibal's house and have tracked him down to Florence.]]

* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: Any time Hannibal is nice to Will (or Margot or Abigail or, you know what, anybody) is creepy, even if he genuinely seems to mean what he says, because he's still a cannibalistic Serial Killer who won't hesitate to manipulate, torment, and ruin the lives of the people he claims to care about. Especially Will, who suffers a lot by his hands, and yet [[spoiler: the finale confirms Hannibal's in love with him.]]

* VillainousCrush: Though the initial relationship started with a friendly, if not manipulative, curiosity, [[spoiler: Hannibal's]] feelings for [[spoiler: Will]] in seasons two and three bloom into an intense, all-consuming love. It becomes so powerful that [[spoiler: Hannibal willingly surrenders himself to the FBI when Will told him he wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Will]], for his part, [[spoiler: ends up reciprocating Hannibal's romantic feelings and leaves his wife, step-son and any semblance of a normal life behind in order to be with him, whether or not he intended for it to be in death or on the run.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: Bryan Fuller's twitter prematurely revealed that the villain of Season 2 is [[spoiler:Mason Verger]]. Readers of the book know that, even with the unique canon of the series, things won't work out well when Hannibal gets his hands on him.[[invoked]]
* WanderingWalkOfMadness: Will Graham begins taking unusual journeys on foot as his sanity slowly unravels. In one of his therapy sessions with Hannibal, he mentions that he's in the habit of leaving his house in the middle of the night then turning back so he can see the house from a distance, claiming that it's the only way he can feel safe. Then he finds himself sleepwalking down the road some distance from his home. Then he begins suffering wide-awake fugue states and waking up in completely different parts of the country. [[spoiler: Part of this is due to encephalitis, but it's also due to him being covertly {{Mind Rape}}d by Hannibal.]]

** "Takiawase": [[spoiler: Beverly Katz]] is killed after discovering Hannibal's secret.

** "Yakimono": [[spoiler: Frederick Chilton is framed by Hannibal for his crimes, and then shot by Miriam.]]

** "The Number of the Beast is 666": [[spoiler: Chilton is mutilated and set on fire by Dolarhyde.]]
** "The Wrath of the Lamb": [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will kill Dolarhyde in a brutal melee, before embracing each other and throwing themselves off a bluff to their deaths. However, [[TheStinger there are no bodies at the bottom]]...]]

** "Trou Normand": [[spoiler: "I helped him." Abigail admits to Hannibal that she really did help her father kill the girls, because she sensed that it was her or them.]]
** From "Sakizuki": Bedelia [[spoiler: whispering "I believe you," to Will.]]

** "Takiawase": [[spoiler: When investigating Hannibal's basement, Beverly turns on a light switch and we see that Hannibal is standing behind her.]]
** In "Futamono", Jack peers down into a pit in one of Hannibal's abandoned lairs, and finds [[spoiler: Miriam Lass alive and missing an arm.]]
** In "Yakimono", a literal wham shot occurs. [[spoiler: Chilton is shot by Miriam after extensive brainwashing by Hannibal.]]
** The end of "Ko no Mono" reveals that [[spoiler: Freddie Lounds is still alive.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Freddie''': "How was my funeral?"]].

** After [[spoiler: Hannibal prevents Will from killing him, Clark Ingram]] is never seen or mentioned again.

** In Season 1, Alana shows romantic interest in both Will and Hannibal, but keeps her distance for various reasons. By the middle of Season 2, [[spoiler: Alana and Hannibal [[TheyDo are lovers.]]]]

* WreathedInFlames: Elliot Budish, the "Angel Maker", sees each of his victims crowned in flame. [[spoiler: While obviously a hallucination brought about by his brain tumor, it hints at the demon within.]]

** In Season 1, [[spoiler: Hannibal sends Gideon after Alana and then Will after Gideon. No matter the outcome, Hannibal would have come out ahead. Will seriously wounds Gideon, removing Hannibal's plagiarist but leaving Hannibal's hands clean, and making Will even more unstable; however, had Gideon killed Alana, Will would have been guilt-ridden and (again) less mentally stable, forcing Will back to Hannibal for help.]]

** In "Shiizakana", Hannibal [[spoiler: sets Randall Tier on Will. If Randall kills Will, Hannibal removes his greatest threat. If Will kills Randall, Hannibal has furthered his corruption because he knows that if Will gets a chance to kill, he'll start to enjoy it.]]
** [[spoiler: Will]] pulls one of [[spoiler: his]] own in "Ko no Mono" by [[spoiler: refusing to kill Mason and instead setting him against Hannibal; no matter who wins, Will gets some measure of revenge on an otherwise untouchable person he has good reason to loathe.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Season 2 becomes this between Hannibal and Will. Hannibal seems to be attempting to strike a balance between continuing to manipulate Will, without [[spoiler: pushing his insanity or manipulating the evidence to the point where he'll be found viable for the death penalty]], while Will intentionally plays everyone's perceptions of his psychosis to manipulate them [[spoiler: from behind bars]] in order to [[spoiler: set Hannibal up for his inevitable fall]].

* LoveTheme: [[https://youtu.be/e5f8dMw_Zz4 "Love Crime"]] is the official love theme for [[spoiler:Will and Hannibal]]. It's played in their final scene together. An instrumental tune that sounds like part of that song can also be heard at other crucial points in season three, for example at the end of "Antipasto" when [[spoiler:the heart sculpture for Will]] is first displayed in the church, or at the end of "The Great Red Dragon" when [[spoiler:Hannibal and Will meet again]] for the first time after three years.

** In season three, [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will do escape alive after viciously killing Dolarhyde together, admitting mutual romantic feelings drenched in blood before Will throws them into the ocean.]] Although his true intentions ([[TakingYouWithMe whether he wanted them to survive or not]]) aren't know because the show was cancelled in its prime, WordOfGod has confirmed that they did survive and would spend a hypothetical season four on the run as an OutlawCouple.[[invoked]]

Set before ''Literature/RedDragon'', the novel that started [[AdaptationDisplacement the Thomas Harris books]] and led to the award-winning film series, the show frequently leans on [[DramaticIrony Hannibal's double life]] and his [[ManipulativeBastard "friendship"]] with Will and co. as they solve grisly murders. Not only is the show notable for its writing, it also built on an infamous cocktail of SceneryGorn and FoodPorn -- expect [[SupremeChef beautifully constructed meals]] made with MysteryMeat, and corpses mutilated in some [[ForTheEvulz unique]] and [[PoeticSerialKiller artistic]] ways.

Premiering on Creator/{{NBC}} on April 4th, 2013, the show was later renewed for a second season in 2014, and a third in 2015. The show quickly gained popularity by drawing Fuller and Harris fans together, and for spawning an enthusiastic fan base that has been skillfully and gleefully mirrored by [[JustForFun/OneOfUs the official blog]] [[http://nbchannibal.tumblr.com/ (MAJOR UNMARKED SPOILERS)]]. As to the full arc, Fuller announced an ultimate [[CrazyPrepared six-season plan]] for the show: after the two original seasons, the third-through-fifth were to be a re-ordered, re-imagined version of the book series[[note]]The books in release order: ''Red Dragon'', ''The Silence of the Lambs'', ''Hannibal'', and ''Hannibal Rising''[[/note]] before the show closed on an original ending come Season 6.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Hannibal, Bedelia, and Alana are all psychiatrists, but are usually providing counseling, not medication, to their patients. Typically psychiatrists would see patients about medication and treatment of mental illness, more than just talk therapy -- that's a ''psychotherapist's'' job. Justified in Will's case, since his relationship with both Hannibal and Alana isn't a doctor-patient relationship in the typical sense.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Despite Bella being a cancer patient recovering from an overdose, and Hannibal being a powerful sociopathic murderer, you can see her slapping him actually hurts him (even if not physically).

* AmbiguousDisorder: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] with Will, who is directly asked by Jack if he has an autism-spectrum disorder but doesn't elaborate much beyond saying "closer to Asperger's and autistics than narcissists and sociopaths." Bryan Fuller commented in an interview that, "[With Asperger's] you can't read social cues. He has an empathy disorder where he reads too much and it overwhelms him."
** Hannibal is commonly considered to be a psychopath or sociopath, but it's stated several times [[spoiler: upon his arrest and subsequent institutionalization]] that he's such a unique case psychologically that he doesn't fit ''any'' established categories that psychiatrists use and accept.

* DissonantSerenity: [[spoiler: Abel Gideon]] seems only mildly peeved when he realizes that [[spoiler: Hannibal has amputated his leg with the intent of serving it up to him as dinner. Then he tucks in and gives his compliments to the chef.

* PervertedSniffing: Repeatedly shown in the promos when Hannibal does this and Will asks, "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Did you just... smell me?]]" The scene in question is taken from "Coquilles".[[invoked]]

** This is becomes inverted in Season 2, which is arguably even darker than Season 1 but [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments also considerably funnier.]] [[spoiler:It is worth noting, however, that as the season goes on the two comic relief characters (relatively speaking) suffer greatly from Hannibal's proximity: Chilton is shot through the face, and bringer of BlackComedy Mason Verger is [[LaserGuidedKarma quite deservedly]] mutilated by Hannibal.]][[invoked]]

* DissonantSerenity: [[spoiler: Abel Gideon]] seems only mildly peeved when he realizes that [[spoiler: Hannibal has amputated his leg with the intent of serving it up to him as dinner. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Then he tucks in and gives his compliments to the chef.]] ]]

* ShownTheirWork: In regards to the [[FoodPorn Food Porn/Gorn]] the show revels in, as well as many of the details regarding food itself. Hannibal's food preparation methods, ranging from how he uses his cutlery, the way he stirs food in a pan, his cooking methods, the presentation of the food, and even the apropos of what the dish is meant to represent, are so intentionally detailed that the [[http://janicepoonart.blogspot.com/ blog]] of the show's food stylist is dedicated to not only how the food is made to resemble human flesh, but [[CrossesTheLineTwice how to prepare it]].[[invoked]]

* AscendedMeme: The official NBC Hannibal tumblr [[http://nbchannibal.tumblr.com/tagged/Hannigram tagged a picture]] as "[[PortmanteauCoupleName Hannigram]]," followed by, "What you didn't think we noticed your ships? You must be new."

* ShownTheirWork: In regards to the [[FoodPorn Food Porn/Gorn]] the show revels in, as well as many of the details regarding food itself. Hannibal's food preparation methods, ranging from how he uses his cutlery, the way he stirs food in a pan, his cooking methods, the presentation of the food, and even the apropos of what the dish is meant to represent, are so intentionally detailed that the [[http://janicepoonart.blogspot.com/ blog]] of the show's food stylist is dedicated to not only how the food is made to resemble human flesh, but [[CrossesTheLineTwice how to prepare it]].

** Creator/LanceHenriksen - lead actor in ''Series/Millennium1996'', to which ''Hannibal'' is a SpiritualSuccessor - guest stars in ''Trou Normand''. He ends the scene double-tapping his chair, with a sound effect lifted from the ''Millennium'' opening theme.

* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: The only one [[spoiler:Will]] sees after admitting he [[MoralEventHorizon loved the brutal pack hunting]] he just did with Hannibal.

** The first season could arguably be seen as a deconstruction of Hannibal's DracoInLeatherPants status in popular culture, through BaitTheDog. Hopkins' adaptations in particular often made Hannibal sympathetic through his AffablyEvil nature, and the fact that many of his victims were AssholeVictims. While this Hannibal has these traits to an extent, the show slowly draws attention to the more selfish motives behind his crimes, and doesn't shy away from or downplay how his actions end up affecting good, genuinely decent people, like Will.

** In "Antipasto", the same color scheme is used during flashbacks between Hannibal and [[spoiler: Abel Gideon]].

** In season three, [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will do escape alive after viciously killing Dolarhyde together, admitting mutual romantic feelings drenched in blood before Will throws them into the ocean.]] Although his true intentions ([[TakingYouWithMe whether he wanted them to survive or not]]) aren't know because the show was cancelled in its prime, WordOfGod has confirmed that they did survive and would spend a hypothetical season four on the run as an OutlawCouple.

* MurderSuicide: Arguably what Will tries to do in [[spoiler: "The Wrath of the Lamb"]] as a last attempt to save himself/his and Hannibal's potential future victims knowing that he won't be able to stop, but so that he and Hannibal can still die in each other's arms. According to the cliffhanger and WordOfGod, [[spoiler:it fails. They survive and are now on the run together.]]

* OutlawCouple: [[spoiler: Hannibal and Will]] would have become this if season four had come to fruition. WordOfGod has confirmed they would have spent the season pack hunting together, likely in Cuba.

* PervertedSniffing: Repeatedly shown in the promos when Hannibal does this and Will asks, "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Did you just... smell me?]]" The scene in question is taken from "Coquilles".

** This is becomes inverted in Season 2, which is arguably even darker than Season 1 but [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments also considerably funnier.]] [[spoiler:It is worth noting, however, that as the season goes on the two comic relief characters (relatively speaking) suffer greatly from Hannibal's proximity: Chilton is shot through the face, and bringer of BlackComedy Mason Verger is [[LaserGuidedKarma quite deservedly]] mutilated by Hannibal.]]
* ShootTheMoney: The first half of Season 3 takes place in Florence, and they make sure to show practically every major city landmark.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/Millennium1996''.

* TogetherInDeath: Averted. [[spoiler: [[TakingYouWithMe Though Will's true intentions]] [[OutlawCouple are unknown given the show's cancellation]], TheStinger and WordOfGod both confirm that he and Hannibal survived their clifftop plunge.]]

** Taken UpToEleven in "Sorbet", in which Hannibal throws a fancy dinner party and the camera pans up the table, showing how it's laden with terrifyingly delicious-looking human organ meats, before finally showing Hannibal give a short but sweet speech:

** Hugh Dancy and Creator/MadsMikkelsen were both in ''Film/KingArthur'', with Dancy as Galahad and Mikkelsen as Tristan. It was actually Dancy who recommended Mikkelsen for the part of Lecter, as the two had grown to be close friends during the film's production.

* AdultFear:
** In "Mizumono", Will helplessly watches as [[spoiler: Hannibal slices Abigail's throat open, too grievously injured to protect her from the same man who had secretly kidnapped and controlled her since the first season. The episode ends with Will -- horribly injured and bleeding out on the kitchen floor -- desperately trying to staunch the blood flow from Abigail's throat.]]
** In "The Great Red Dragon", Dolarhyde fatally maims two parents (stabbing Mr. Leeds in the neck and shooting Mrs. Leeds in the stomach), leaving them bleeding out and unable to help as he murders their children.