Line #116 YMMV/Hannibal


1	[[foldercontrol]]
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4	[[folder: The Book]]
5	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Hannibal's motivation and state of mind, especially in the films. While he [[DefiedTrope denies having a]] FreudianExcuse and claims he ‘happened’, ''Hannibal'' and ''Hannibal Rising'' explain that he did experience the horrible trauma of [[spoiler:his sister being murdered and eaten]], but passages in ''Hannibal'' and the twist in ''Hannibal Rising'' imply that [[spoiler:he was to an undetermined degree resentful towards her, and the act he witnessed actually inspired him by showing him how deep evil can get]]. He has a somewhat strange relationship with these understandings, alternating between accepting and rejecting either or both, calmly denying that [[spoiler:he resented his sister]] when Clarice asks him about it near the end of ''Hannibal'' and breaks into a huge [[BigNo cry of despair]] when [[spoiler:he is reminded that [[AwfulTruth he ate his sister too]]]] in ''Rising''.
6	* BrokenBase: One half of the fans argue that the movie is a large improvement of the book, but the other half likes the book but loathes the movie. There's also a large segment which despises the book ''and'' the movie for turning Hannibal into an AntiHero of sorts, how Clarice's character is handled (her romance with Hannibal in the novel, aspects of that remaining in the film, recasting Foster with Moore, etc.) and an overall sense of try-hard {{Narm}} that can be seen throughout it.
7	* CompleteMonster: [[WouldHurtAChild Mason Verger]] is a warped pedophile who had the misfortune to conflict with Hannibal and ended up [[EvilCripple disfigured and crippled in a wheelchair]] for it. Seeking revenge, Verger kills and schemes so he can capture Hannibal and [[FedToPigs feed him to specially trained wild pigs]]. Now impotent, Verger obtains satisfaction by torturing and abusing children and [[TastyTears drinks martinis made from their tears]]. Verger also uses his own sister Margot as a servant, having kept her in line with a series of [[SiblingIncest violent rapes]] earlier in life.
8	* {{Narm}}: One suspects that Mason Verger's child torture and tear-drinking didn't make it into the film adaptation not because of how disturbing it is, but because it's just ''so'' [[CardCarryingVillain cartoonishly over-the-top in its vileness]] that it's almost impossible to take it the slightest bit seriously.
9	* StrangledByTheRedString: Hannibal and Clarice. At no time in the preceding novel was there ever any indication of an attraction between them and even after being drugged and brainwashed, it seems highly unlikely that Clarice would seduce him and willingly abandon her life to go on the run with him.
10	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Many fans find the subplot of the cynical AntiHero Detective Pazzi investigating Hannibal the best thing in the book, and more interesting than anything involving Clarice. Some even argue that it is from the moment [[spoiler:he is killed by Hannibal that the quality of the plot drops.]]
11	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The big problem of the book and the film. By promoting the serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the role of protagonist in history, Thomas Harris is forced to create even more monstrous and repulsive antagonists, to make the reader cheer for Hannibal. Meanwhile, Clarice Starling, the protagonist of the previous book, suffers severely from OutOfFocus for much of the first half, even being absent for the entire hundred pages on which the book focuses on Detective Pazzi's investigation. Even when she returns to the main plot in the second half, she is manipulated by Hannibal and Verger for most of the book. And the ending only makes the situation worse.
12	* VindicatedByHistory: To a small extent, the novel and the film were savaged as time went on and fans have finally started to appreciate the story a lot more than when it initially came out. It helps that the ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' series did a spectacular job adapting the story thanks to AdaptationExpansion.
13	* TheWoobie:
14	** Clarice a bit as well, in the first half of Hannibal, after the press has smeared her for the way the DC drug bust went, even though she and John were the only people actually doing their job right.
15	** Margot has some woobie-ish tendencies as well, with the way her brother Mason abuses her.
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18	[[folder: Film]]
19	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
20	** Lecter having removed one of his own hands leads to the question as to what kind of future is in store for him having escaped again. Does he quietly disappear without further contact with hardly anyone again or does he still lead a seemingly normal life away from it with his occasional brand of Justice coming into play in the circumstances he deems appropriate? Also, when he feeds the young boy a little of Krendler's leftover brain, is he hoping to win him over to the appeal of cannibalism or just briefly indulging him with tue expectation that it won't go further than that—and thus either way be his final interaction with the world before slipping away into anonymity?
21	** What is Starling thinking in the aftermath of Lecter escaping? Is she deeming it a loss due to having failed to recapture him; at least happy that he wasn't killed by Verger or is there a sense of finality and gratitude because despite the trouble he caused over the decades, she thinks of how his final act to her was to dismember himself as a means of escaping to further prove that regardless of the future, she'd never be in danger from him? Also, since she was right, does she get her name cleared in the midst of Verger's murderous actions towards Lecter being exposed—along with Krendler being party to them—as further actions against her would bring bad PR to the FBI that would only further embarrass them and reveal how the harshness of prior disciplinary actions against Starling were both biased and unfair to begin with?
22	* AwardSnub:
23	** While Creator/GaryOldman's performance as Mason Verger is widely-praised and admired, he received no kinds of accolades beyond that praise, not even an MTV Best Villain nomination--which Creator/AnthonyHopkins was nominated for though.
24	** AFI deemed Dr. Hannibal Lecter the #1 of the 50 Greatest Movie Villains of all-time for ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' in 2003, but in 2001, Anthony Hopkins lost the MTV Best Villain award for this movie to Creator/JimCarrey for ''[[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000)]]''.
25	* CatharsisFactor:
26	** Verger being dumped into the boar pen and eaten is very satisfying given his horrid history and personality--and that it comes by means of Lecter's PetTheDog to Cordell resulting in Cordell being TheDogBitesBack to Verger is just the icing on the cake.
27	** Lecter cutting Krendler's head open and feeding off his brain after how much of a sexist and elitist jerk he was.
28	** Lecter cutting off his own hand to both escape and avoid hurting Starling since it's him making a pretty big sacrifice that while benefitting him also means he never once broke away from the insistence that he wouldn't harm her as well.
29	* CompleteMonster: [[WouldHurtAChild Mason Verger]] is a creepy serial child molester who escaped justice for his crimes using both his [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney wealth]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections influence]], only for Dr. Hannibal Lecter to drug him and get him to peel off his own angelic-looking face so no child would ever trust him again. Claiming to be a reformed man who found God, a now [[EvilCripple horribly disfigured and crippled Verger]] seeks to track down Lecter and enact his violent revenge on him by means of [[FedToPigs having wild boars devour him on command]], slowly over the course of hours. While having Lecter tracked once he's located him, Verger coaxes and bribes DOJ agent Paul Krendler into helping frame FBI Agent Clarice Starling not only to get her off the case, but to use her as bait to trap Lecter as well. Once getting his hands on Lecter and nearly putting his plan in motion, Verger, upon seeing Lecter nearly escape with a wounded Starling, tries to force his long-suffering and abused physician Dr. Cordell Doemling to risk his life in the boar pen--where another one of Verger's men is already being eaten alive--just to go shoot Lecter.
30	* HilariousInHindsight: At one point Krendler says he always figured that Hannibal was "some kind of [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero queer]]". Fast forward to the 2013 series and ''that'' Hannibal's [[HoYay relationship with Will]].
31	* MoralEventHorizon: Verger, having regularly sexually assaulted childen and avoided any kinds of punishments for targeting the kids at his family's summer camp--while bragging about how he got all the kids to trust him too with no kind of shame as well, immediately is proven to be insufferably hateful and cruel even with Hannibal Lecter of all people serving him well-deserved Justice. If he legit was remorseful, it'd be DisproportionateRetribution rather than LaserGuidedKarma. Him being a KnightTemplar who wants to slowly torture and kill Lecter while claiming religious dominance too all the more highlights him in the end as nothing more than a sanctimonious {{hypocrite}}.
32	* {{Narm}}: Some people found the scene in the movie where [[spoiler: Hannibal cuts off the top of Krendler's skull, cooks part of his brain and feeds it to him while he's still alive]] to just be too silly to take seriously. Though in hindsight, comparing it to the insanely brutal and over-the-top "artistic" murders in the 2013 series, eating someone's brain might come across as rather quaint today. [[spoiler: As if to drive this point home, the series replicates the scene with Will Graham in place of Krendler. Hannibal doesn't actually get to eat Will's brain as they are interrupted, but they nevertheless top it by showing us Hannibal ''drilling into Will's skull while Jack Crawford watches''.]]
33	* NauseaFuel:
34	** Hannibal cutting open the sac containing Krendler's brain, cutting off a piece, cooking it and feeding it to Krendler is this InUniverse for Clarice Starling, even drugged up on morphine. She begs Hannibal for some wine while retching.
35	** Pazzi's intestines spilling out when he's hanged because Lecter cut him open. It definitely is shocking that certain public TV channels got to show it with a TV-14 rating too. Creator/RogerEbert highlighted in both his TV and written reviews how he didn't expect a movie to ever get an NC-17 rating for violence ever because this movie only got an R rating from the MPAA at the time.
36	* RetroactiveRecognition: Doubles as HarsherInHindsight - the movie shows the actual FBI Most Wanted List of the time (albeit with the addition of Hannibal Lecter), including UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden for his role in the bombings of American embassies and a naval ship. Since the film came out in early 2001, very few viewers at the time of release would have recognized him, unless they somehow kept up-to-date on international terrorism; after [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror 9/11]] though, '''everybody''' knew who bin Laden was.
37	** [[TheIrishMob Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger]] was also shown on the list, right next to bin Laden. Once again, few would have known who he was at the time, but he gained international notoriety years after the film came out, though in his case more because of other big movies like ''Film/TheDeparted'' (whose BigBad was partially modelled on Bulger) and ''Film/BlackMass'' (a fictionalised biopic of the guy) that won several awards and made his story infamous.
38	** [[Series/BreakingBad Hector Salamanca]] appears as the perfume expert who gives Clarice one of her next leads on Hannibal's trail.
39	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Say what you will about [[spoiler: Krendler with an exposed brain]], but it looks disgustingly realistic and believable well over 20 years later, which is to be expected when PracticalEffects, makeup and CGI are combined together well. Many people also fail to notice that when Clarice washes the hostage baby from the blood the infant is also an animatronic, thanks to the scene's editing and the realism of the prop.
40	[[/folder]]
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42	[[folder: The Series]]
43	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
44	** It has been debated whether or not Hannibal genuinely cares about Will or, to a lesser extent, Abigail.
45	*** In Season 2, his therapist, Bedelia du Maurier, tells Will that she believes that Hannibal ''does'' care about him.
46	** Is Hannibal playing the role of an unusually twisted TricksterMentor, using Will's madness to bring Will to some kind of new self-awareness? Or is Hannibal a sadist who manipulates Will, lies to him about his [[spoiler:encephalitis]] and perceptions, and plunges him into madness [[ItAmusedMe just for]] [[ForTheEvulz his amusement]]? Or both? Is there a plan at all, or does he simply go with whatever the situation offers him?
47	** Another possibility is that Hannibal's initial intention was just to mess with Will's head, but found himself liking him along the way. [[spoiler: ... Which did not stop him from continuing to mess with his head and insidiously turning on him when he deemed it necessary.]] Compartmentalization, you know.
48	** Making practically any assertion about Bedelia is walking an uneasy line between Alternative Character Interpretation and EpilepticTrees. Does she really know what Hannibal is and what (who?) she was eating? [[VillainousFriendship Is she his partner]]? His captive? Then there's how interpreting Bedelia's character changes interpretations about Hannibal's: if she knows and he knows she knows, why bother with the 'person suit'? Furthermore, why [[spoiler: weep for Abigail]] and why profess friendship for Will? Does the intimacy of their sessions mean his feelings towards Will and Abigail are genuine (though still filtered through his inability to feel genuine empathy) or is he employing her as a sounding board for nitpicking and refining his performance of humanity?
49	** The question of the relationship between Hannibal and Bedelia is underlined in "Mizumono", when [[spoiler: TheStinger shows the two of them boarding a plane (presumably to France) after Hannibal outwits and butchers the rest of the main cast]]. The Season 3 opening episode implies that [[spoiler:even ''she'' isn't sure what's going on with her and Hannibal]].
50	** Mads Mikkelsen has described his performance as Hannibal as though he were Satan on Earth rather than some psychopath. Not that we're likely to see someone come to arrest him and get incinerated with hellfire, but he plays Hannibal not as a disturbed human, but as an otherworldly, malevolent entity that simply dwells among humans.
51	** Katherine the bee killer. [[spoiler: Did she confess because she knew she was caught, or did she never consider what she did a secret, and simply hadn't mentioned it because no one had asked?]]
52	** In Season 3, [[spoiler:was Bella's death natural, or did Jack give her an assisted suicide?]]
53	** Now that the nature of [[spoiler:Neal Frank's death is revealed, did Bedelia intend to kill him anyway after he called her and Hannibal out on their treatments on him, or was it a MercyKill because she couldn't think of any other way to act and save him during his seizure?]]
54	** In the series finale, when Will hatches a plan to [[spoiler: fake Hannibal's escape so he can have both Hannibal and Dolarhyde killed. Was he secretly intending to kill Dolarhyde and have Hannibal escape for real, with him joining the latter? Or did he really plan to have both of them dead, only changing his mind about killing Hannibal in the last second?]]
55	** Bedelia's final scene (and the final shot of the series) lends itself to two interpretations, which have been hotly debated among the fandom: [[spoiler:either she's preparing her body to be eaten because she doesn't know Will and Hannibal are dead and won't be coming for her, or Will and Hannibal are alive and have returned to eat her.]]
56	*** WordOfGod has stated that it was meant to imply [[spoiler:the latter, but he nonetheless enjoys the former interpretation.]]
57	** How much of what Will becomes is truly him and how much is Hannibal's influence? Did he always have the potential to be [[spoiler: a killer]] or did Hannibal just break him?
58	* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: After two murders, the FBI visits Katherine the bee killer; she immediately realizes the jig is up, confesses to the killings, and is presumably arrested off-screen.]]
59	* AwardSnub: A lot of people were expecting the show to earn UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations, particularly for Hugh Creator/HughDancy's and Creator/MadsMikkelsen's performances. Sadly, the show went largely ignored through its three seasons.
60	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
61	** Siouxsie Sioux's & Brian Reitzell's hauntingly beautiful song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodPtK1tpXc Love Crime]]", which plays over the final scene and end credits of "The Wrath of the Lamb."
62	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3ABpCNJrs Bloodfest]]", the instrumental piece that plays during the final ten minutes of "Mizumono".
63	** Most of the soundtrack counts, especially if you're a fan of early Music/PinkFloyd.
64	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Freddie Lounds and Jack Crawford have their share of fans and people who just can't stand them.
65	* BrokenBase:
66	** Many people will argue viciously whether or not Will is canonically autistic.
67	** While the viewers enjoyed the dynamics between Hannibal and Will in the first two seasons, Season 3 divided the base when it's confirmed that Hannibal and Will are in love with each other. Some people are cool with it since it mirrors Hannibal and Clarice Starling's relationship. Others find it as [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to slash shippers]] (or they just don't like [[SarcasmMode icky gay stuff]] in their cool murder shows) and some of them prefer the Hannibal/Clarice ship from the movies instead. As expected, it leads to ShipToShipCombat.
68	** Creator/BryanFuller described the first half of Season 3 as "a pretentious art film from the 80s". Not all fans were on board, particularly because of the slower pace compared to the first two seasons.
69	* CatharsisFactor: Whether you like Hannibal or hate him, it's hard to not cheer Jack on when [[spoiler: he gives Hannibal the beating of his life in "Contorno", especially after all that he had done to almost everyone else in the cast.]]
70	* CompleteMonster:
71	** Seasons 2 & 3: [[WouldHurtAChild Mason Verger]] is the most sickening and twisted opponent Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham ever face. The heir to the [[Characters/HannibalVergerFamily Verger]] meatpacking empire, Mason lords his power over his sister Margo, having abused her physically, mentally, and sexually for many years. Knowing she will be disinherited if Mason dies without an heir, Mason mocks her with an intent to rape her to father that heir. When Margo sleeps with Will Graham in desperation, Mason arranges for her reproductive organs to be removed in the most invasive procedure possible. Mason also emotionally abuses every child he encounters, being a brutal pedophile who also molests some at a summer camp he patrons, so he can collect their tears for his martinis. Upon being paralyzed, and disfigured by Hannibal, Mason grows even worse. [[{{Sadist}} Finding only joy in the suffering of others]], Mason plans to torture Will and Hannibal to death so he might dine upon the latter. Providing his sperm with Margo's eggs, Mason gives her a "surrogate", letting their child grow in the body of a sow so it will die a painful death, just for the sick joy of Margo's anguish.
72	** "[[Recap/HannibalS01E09 Trou Normand]]": [[EvilOldFolks Lawrence Wells]] is a brutal SerialKiller who has been active for decades, seeking to secure his "legacy". Having gotten his start by killing his lover and her husband in a jealous rage, Wells gained a taste for murder and began a years-long spree in which he claimed 18 lives, staging most of them as accidents or suicides to avoid detection. When Wells finally wants credit, he digs up all of his victims and [[MadArtist erects a massive totem pole]] of unholy depravity in his own honor, reacting to the reveal that [[OffingTheOffspring his own estranged son]] was unintentionally his last victim with nothing but annoyance at his "legacy" being tampered with.
73	** "[[Recap/HannibalS02E08 Su-Zakana]]" & "[[Recap/HannibalS02E09 Shiizakana]]": [[SerialKiller Clark Ingram]] is a social worker who seeks to murder his charge Peter and [[DeceasedFallGuyGambit frame him for his killings]] after [[MindRape destroying his mind]] and [[DrivenToMadness driving him totally insane]]. Ingram is a sadist who enjoys kidnapping women and [[BuriedAlive burying them alive]], leaving them to suffer a slow and agonizing death underground, which he has done to 16 women at least by the time he is caught.
74	* DracoInLeatherPants: Even though this was present for the Anthony Hopkins incarnation of the character, it has reached new heights with Mads Mikkelsen. Though, to the credit of most fans, the enjoyment of Hannibal's character is very soundly in the realm of "love to hate", especially by Season 2. Usually no effort is made to justify his actions or soften his cruelty; as several entries under MemeticMutation indicate, most of the fun is in how terrible he is. Cannibal jokes abound.
75	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
76	** Beverly Katz. Her plot relevance is only slightly greater than that of the other two investigators, but her kindly treatment of Will, fun dialogue, intelligence, and cool head in difficult situations endeared her to the fandom. Likely as a result, she's getting an expanded role in the second season's story line. [[spoiler:Her death at the end of "Takiawase" is all the more horrible for it.]]
77	** Interest in Bedelia du Maurier shot up with her actions in the second episode of Season 2. Many are already hoping [[spoiler: she returns. Which, as of "Tome-Wan", she does.]]
78	** Matthew Brown. Despite being a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] StalkerWithACrush, he's genuinely nice to Will, knows that he isn't a murderer and doesn't care, [[spoiler: kills the bailiff to protect him, and then attempts to kill Hannibal at Will's request. Brown comes closer than anybody else, too.]] The fandom noticed all of this.
79	** Chilton's popularity exploded in Season 2, as he became more sympathetic but importantly more comedic, commenting on the bizarreness of Hannibal Lecter in an almost meta fashion.
80	** Mason Verger has built up quite a following, and has drawn a lot of comparisons to Creator/HeathLedger as [[Film/TheDarkKnight the Joker]]. For such a monstrous human being, he is ''so much fun to watch.'' While everyone else is contemplating existence, he's rolling around making blowjob jokes.
81	** Margot Verger, partly due to her status as TheWoobie and partly due to her wonderful dedication to being TheSnarkKnight.
82	** Bella Crawford and Molly Graham have both gained a great deal of love from fans, despite relatively brief and straightforward story arcs.
83	* EpilepticTrees: Given that Bryan Fuller has stated all his shows share the same universe, a quite popular theory is that Alana is actually Jaye from ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'', who spent some time in an institution for her talking to inanimate objects, and changed her name to start over once she got out.
84	* FandomRivalry: With ''Series/TheFollowing'', due to the fact that both started airing around the same time and featured very similar themes. The rivalry came about because both series were courting the same niche demographic and thought the other was stealing viewers, with fans and critics [[DuelingWorks frequently coming to blows]] because ''The Following'' fans thought Hannibal was too pretentious while Hannibal fans thought ''The Following'''s premise was dumb and relied too heavily on lazy writing. Many fans failed to notice that the general public lost interest in ''The Following'' as time went on and Hannibal was largely ignored by the general public [[AcclaimedFlop from the start]].
85	* FanNickname:
86	** The Murder Family: [[HoYay Hannibal and Will]] as the dads and Abigail Hobbs as their adopted daughter. Sometimes with just Hannibal and Will, it's Murder Husbands.
87	*** [[AscendedFanon Will mentions "Murder Husbands" as what Freddie called Will and Hannibal in the tabloids]]. [[spoiler:Taken to the logical end when Will and Hannibal embrace after having killed Dolarhyde together]].
88	** Will's dreams are haunted by the Ravenstag.
89	** Team Sassy Science: The forensics team consisting of Drs. Beverly Katz, Brian Zeller and Jimmy Price, named as such because of their [[ShapedLikeItself sassy]], [[PluckyComicRelief humorous]] approach to analysing gruesome scenes.
90	** Many of the Killers of the Week receive such nicknames:
91	*** The unnamed SerialKiller from ''Œuf'', played by Molly Shannon, has been named Wendy by fans, due to the Peter Pan/Lost Boys themes presented by her story.
92	*** Katherine Pimms is called Honey Bunny by some, due to both her connection to bees, and as a ShoutOut to Amanda Plummer's character in ''Film/PulpFiction.''
93	*** Randall Tier is [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Manbearpig]].
94	** "The Red Dinner" for the latter half of the Season 2 finale, comparing the event to the similarly shocking/gore-spattered "Red Wedding" incident of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
95	** "Hell on Wheels", the nickname given to [[spoiler:the fake corpse of Freddie that's strapped to a wheelchair and [[KillItWithFire set on fire]].]]
96	* FashionVictimVillain:
97	** Freddie Lounds' clothes almost always have some kind of garish pattern. This is probably intentional, in order to match with her character as a trashy tabloid blogger.
98	** Hannibal himself. While his suits scream "bespoke and expensive", they're also very flashy. Subverted by the third season when he tones down his fashion to blend in more.
99	* FriendlyFandoms:
100	** Surprisingly with ''Series/BatesMotel'' fans. It certainly helps that both shows succeed at AdaptationExpansion while modernizing the show's timeline and do a perfect job at maintaining the dignity or two of cinema's greatest horror villains of all time.
101	** Also with ''Series/KillingEve'', due to both shows being crime dramas with copious amounts of BlackComedy, [[BlackAndGrayMorality complex and shady characters]], and FoeRomanceSubtext between the two leads that eventually [[DestructiveRomance becomes]] [[VillainousCrush canon]]. Many have called ''Killing Eve'' "the lesbian version of ''Hannibal''."
102	** With ''Series/StrangersFromHell'', another series about a cannibalistic serial killer.
103	* GeniusBonus:
104	** A great many things about Hannibal -- from the architecture and color placement in his office to ''how he holds his fork'' -- are indicative of his God Complex.
105	** Due to MGM holding the rights to the character, Benjamin Raspail has been renamed Franklyn Froideveaux. His first name comes from Benjamin Franklin, his last name is a street in Paris that runs parallel to Boulevard Raspail.
106	** Many of the ingredients in the food Hannibal serves to Will can have pronounced negative mental side effects that make sense when the fact that [[spoiler:Hannibal is trying to make Will go insane]] is taken into account.
107	*** Aspen: Vague fears of unknown origin, apprehension.
108	*** Cherry Plum: Uncontrolled temper (Will's desperate fear of losing his mind).
109	*** Chestnut Bud: Slow to learn, repeats mistakes, lacks observation.
110	*** Clematis: Indifference, dreaminess, lack of interest in world around them.
111	*** Gentian: Negative attitudes, depression, self-doubt.
112	*** Gorse: Hopelessness, despair, despondency.
113	*** Mustard: Deep gloom or depression of unknown origin.
114	*** Rock Rose: Terror, panic, extreme fear.
115	** In "Relevés", while Will is in the hospital, Hannibal brings him a Chinese medicinal soup containing ingredients such as ginseng and ginger, which stimulate the immune system. [[spoiler:For someone with an autoimmune disease, this will actually make their condition worse.]]
116	** [[http://ixilecter.tumblr.com/tagged/hannotations This blog]] collects most of the background bonuses in the series.
117	** In "Hassun", the music that plays as Will and Hannibal get ready for court is Mozart's "Dalla Sua Pace", from ''Don Giovanni'', in a scene where Ottavio is wrongly led to believe that Giovanni is a murderer. The comparisons to Will's situation are obvious.
118	** In Hannibal's office during Season 2 (particularly in "Su-zukana"), one can see that the Bonsai tree between the windows has grown exponentially since Season 1, even more so than a Bonsai is typically seen. A certain Japanese folktale claims that a Bonsai will remain small if in an environment of love and care, but will grow strong in an environment of hate and suffering.
119	** Hannibal's line about wealthy Italians preferring to "fall into the hands of the Sards" in "Tome-Wan" becomes rather sharp BlackComedy if you know that it's long been rumored that Sardinian criminals [[FedToPigs feed their victims to the pigs]].
120	** The heart-shaped murder tableau Hannibal turns [[spoiler: Dimmond]] into is propped up by three swords. This makes the tableau visually inspired by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_of_Swords Three of Swords]] in the Rider Waite Tarot deck. The Three of Swords stands for heartbreak, sorrow, betrayal, and the inability to move on. This describes both Hannibal and Will in Season 3 perfectly.
121	** In "Primavera", Will hallucinates Hannibal's heart-shaped murder tableau transforming into the Stag. [[StealthPun An alternative word for stag is]] [[IncrediblyLamePun "Hart."]]
122	*** It’s a double pun - both raven feathers and diamonds are iridescent due to structural refraction of white light. They went from an iridescent hart to a heart-shaped dimmond.
123	** Fireflies are cannibals that “seduce” their prey by flashing the mating patterns of other fireflies. Also, the molecules that enable their bioluminescence are called “luciferon” and “luciferase”.
124	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Not only is the show surprisingly popular in Korea, but if the official AXN[[note]](one of the show's international producers)[[/note]] Youtube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR_T3RCB7TA is anything to go by (MAJOR S2 SPOILERS)]], the gratuitous amounts of HoYay may play a part.
125	* HarsherInHindsight:
126	** In "Buffet Froid", [[spoiler:Will asks Hannibal not to publish anything about his mental illness until after he dies. The episode aired shortly after the shocking revelation that Michael O'Hare, the original lead actor of ''Babylon 5'', left the show because he was suffering from schizophrenia, and asked producer J. Michael Straczynski to reveal it only after his death.]]
127	** An in-universe example during "Entrée", on our first visit to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane:
128	--->'''Will''': I always feel a little nervous going into these places.
129	--->'''Jack''': Why's that?
130	--->'''Will''': I'm afraid they won't let me out.
131	--->'''Jack''': Don't worry, I won't leave you here.
132	--->'''Will''': Yeah, not today.
133	** That odd, silly moment early in the series (and in the trailer) where Hannibal sniffs Will and Will notices? ''[[BlatantLies Totally]]'' doesn't have any relevance in the rest of the series. It's just a funny moment. Totally. Just ignore the similar moment when Hannibal sniffs Bella Crawford and [[spoiler:figures out she has cancer]]. It's coincidence. Totally.
134	** In the pilot episode, Will and Jack talk about Will's problem with eye contact, with which Will concludes, "I try to avoid eyes whenever possible." That becomes a very ill-omened statement a few episodes later when [[spoiler: Will imagines himself as a killer who performs a brutal killing via EyeScream on a defenseless woman... with his thumbs]]. The effect of this trope was not lost on Will, whose own eyes became tear-filled afterward.
135	** In "Œuf", Hannibal gives Abigail Hobbs a mild psychotropic as part of her therapy, and the first thing she does is drop a teacup, which shatters on the ground. A season later, we learn that the image of a shattered teacup is very central to Hannibal Lecter's pathology and that it relates to the death of his sister Mischa, whom he sees Abigail is a surrogate of.
136	** Creator/EddieIzzard plays Dr. Abel Gideon, who struggles with an unstable sense of identity and suffers horribly because of cruel authorities convincing him that he's something he's not. Izzard would come out as trans some years after the series ended.
137	* HesJustHiding: The show runs on the principle that [[NeverFoundTheBody until you've seen the desiccated corpse]], nobody is confirmed as dead (and even then, the corpse may actually be somebody else); as a result, many people react this way when it seems a character has been killed.
138	** As of the episode "Aperitivo", [[spoiler:Miriam Lass, Freddie Lounds, Abigail Hobbs, and Frederick Chilton]] have all turned up alive after their supposed deaths.
139	* HilariousInHindsight:
140	** Mads Mikkelsen played a butcher who sells human meat in the Danish BlackComedy film ''Film/TheGreenButchers'' in 2003.
141	** Hugh Dancy was one of many actors who screen tested for the role of Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising''. This is even more ironic, given the final shot of Hugh Dancy in the Season 1 finale.
142	** Similarly, Creator/GillianAnderson was the first choice to replace Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in the 2000 film ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'', but couldn't take the part because her contract for ''Series/TheXFiles'' forbade her from playing any other FBI agent (and in fact Agent Scully herself was originally heavily inspired by Starling).
143	** Years before the show premiered, Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen both starred in ''King Arthur'' as Galahad and Tristan, respectively. Early in the film, they exchange these lines.
144	--->'''Galahad''': I don't kill for pleasure.
145	--->'''Tristan''': You should try it some day. You might get a taste for it.
146	** Apparently Richard Armitage enjoyed playing a deranged but sympathetic character obsessed with a monstrous red dragon so much in ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'' that he wanted to play another, even crazier version of that character. So now he's Francis Dolarhyde, the villain of ''Red Dragon.''
147	** The ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' fandom has coined the term "Mutant husbands" to describe Charles Xavier's and Erik Lehnsherr's homoerotic friendship, and considering that Will is very similar to Charles (you can read a more detailed comparison in the ShoutOut [[ShoutOut/{{Hannibal}} section]], but for the sake of this entry, it's enough to know that Xavier is a [[TheEmpath mind-reader]] who is physically and emotionally scarred by his abusive love-hate relationship with the murderous Erik--heck, Creator/JamesMcAvoy and Creator/HughDancy even look somewhat alike), all Cherik shippers burst out laughing hearing Freddie Lounds call Will and Hannibal "Murder husbands."
148	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpWW5opA2TI This review]] of ''Film/RedDragon'' from Ebert and Roeper, where they suggest a screenplay about a pre-Hannibal. Someone owes someone some royalties!
149	** Hannibal Lecter helped build [[Film/RogueOne the Death Star]].
150	** When Mikkelsen was cast to TheOtherDarrin the role of Grindelwald in the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' series starting with the third film, parts of this show became funny in hindsight. In general, there's the homoerotic villain deal. More specifically, Dan Fogler (who plays Jacob in said series) has a bit part in season 1 as Franklyn whom Hannibal kills.
151	* IAmNotShazam: People who hadn't seen the first season could be forgiven for thinking that [[spoiler: Hugh Dancy was playing Hannibal Lecter]] as promotional posters for the second season depicted [[spoiler: Will Graham in a padded cell looking sinister and wearing the iconic Hannibal Lecter mouth guard.]]
152	* JerkassWoobie: Chilton. Even if he's a slimy narcissist, it's difficult not to feel pity for him after all of his trials and tribulations. First, Gideon kidnaps and vivisects him. After he recovers, he's down one kidney and requires a cane to walk. ''Then'', Jack refuses to take him seriously when [[spoiler:he begs for FBI protection from Hannibal. Then, Hannibal frames him for three murders he didn't commit. Then, he's shot in the head by a traumatized Miriam, who mistook him for her captor.]] Then in Season 3 [[spoiler: it's revealed he survived the shot to the head but now he needs to wear a series of prosthetics to retain his face's normal structure. Later, he tries to help Will catch Dolarhyde by having him go after Will, only for Dolarhyde to go after Chilton instead. After Chilton is kidnapped by Dolarhyde and glued to a wheelchair, Reba [=McClane=] shows up to try to talk to Dolarhyde, but Chilton remains silent rather than crying out for help because Dolarhyde threatened to kill her if he did. Once she leaves, Dolarhyde proceeds to break Chilton down mentally, and just when Chilton thinks he's about to be let go, Dolarhyde bites his lips and then sets him on fire, leaving him alive but left burnt horribly from head to toe.]]
153	* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/HannibalHannibalLecter Dr. Hannibal Lecter]] himself maintains a sense of charm and genteelness that is unmatched in other portrayals, despite being a cannibalistic SerialKiller. Hannibal delights in nothing more than "winding others up to watch them go" and manipulates events, gaslighting people and driving them to insanity or horrible deeds simply to watch what will unfold. Manipulating the [[Characters/HannibalFBI FBI]] perfectly, especially [[Characters/HannibalWillGraham Will Graham]] who Hannibal fixates on, he manages to elude suspicion for a frighteningly long time, even triggering one captured FBI agent with a trigger to shoot Dr. Frederick Chilton, whom he has a special contempt for. Hannibal also manipulates the dysfunctional [[Characters/HannibalVergerFamily Verger]] siblings until their relationship is at a bloody head before he mutilates and paralyzes the sadistic Mason Verger solely due to dislike of him. Hannibal does rouse himself to save the life of Will from a vengeful Mason later, and in the series finale proves his care for Will and desire for them to become a murderous couple when he rescues Will from the Red Dragon killer. A murderer with [[AGodAmI a god complex]] and SatanicArchetype, Hannibal is nevertheless an audacious manipulator with a captivating presence on the screen, ever joyful to string people along to his whims.
154	* MemeticMolester: Hannibal, unsurprisingly. Mads Mikkelsen and Brian Fuller's comments don't help.
155	* MemeticMutation:
156	** "Somebody please help Will Graham."
157	*** "No not you Hannibal" often follows.
158	*** "THAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF HELPING WILL GRAHAM!"
159	** "The [noun] is people. Everything is people."
160	** Swiggety Swag the Nightmare Stag!
161	** "This is my design" and puns based on it.
162	** What if Hannibal told lame jokes instead of implying cannibalism?
163	** The closed-caption "[loudly implied cannibalism]."
164	** "[[LateToThePunchline It fucking rhymes]]" -- usually captioned on a picture of [[spoiler: Will in prison.]]
165	** Will's fondness of dogs is often hilariously exaggerated into a full-blown obsession; shipping him with Beverly Katz thus got the PortmanteauCoupleName "Katz and Dogs".
166	** "Tell me Will".[[note]]Hannibal's habit of delivering monologues based on elaborate metaphors and anecdotes that end with an ArmorPiercingQuestion about how the person he's speaking to (usually Will) relates to it. Many viewers have either come up with their own monologues, or started replying to unrelated but similarly elaborate comments with "Tell me Will".[[/note]]
167	* MindGameShip:
168	** It's very easy to see Hannibal and Will as this.
169	** Hannibal/Abigail is the hetero version, with a bonus [[MentorShip mentor angle]].
170	** Hannibal and Bedelia Du Maurier as well.
171	** It's safe to say that any ship involving Hannibal Lecter will involve this.
172	* MoralEventHorizon:
173	** Despite the fact that Hannibal is an amoral serial killer and cannibal, many still found him entertaining and likable to an extent. However, by end of the finale, when he [[spoiler: murdered Abigail and framed Will for it,]] people were quite upset. And that was just the beginning.
174	** Mason Verger spends pretty much the entirety of "Ko No Mono" doing cartwheels up to the horizon, until finally [[spoiler: forcing a hysterectomy on his sister simply so she can never have an heir who might take the family fortune.]]
175	* {{Narm}}:
176	** Jack bellowing "USE THE LADIES' ROOM!" to the random FBI agent who unwittingly enters the bathroom while he's having a private conversation with Will. It's so loud and jarring that you can hardly help but laugh.
177	** In the episode "Sorbet", Will misses an appointment with Hannibal. While the entire episode had been to focus on Hannibal's lack of friends and the inherent loneliness of being someone like him, seeing him sit at his desk, double-check his appointment book, and just sit there looking sad and disappointed to Mozart's Requiem has made many a viewer laugh hysterically.
178	** Most of the navel contemplation in the series is well written. But the scene where Hannibal and Chilton make a philosophical observation about ''grapes'' of all things may have been over the line.
179	*** To be fair, Hannibal probably figured subtlety and nuance would be lost on Chilton.
180	** In "Hassun", during the shot of Hannibal [[spoiler: taking the stand at Will's first trial]], his face is replaced by the head of the Wendigo... in a suit. Also doubles as SpecialEffectsFailure, considering the rendition of the Wendigo head looks a bit off.
181	** When Jack & Alana discover Hannibal [[spoiler:[[BadassInDistress being held hostage by Matthew Brown,]]]] The disturbing imagery is undercut by Mads Mikkelsen's squawked delivery of "He's got a gun! Jack!".
182	** The Verger story line faced some interference from NBC execs who were skittish about portraying homosexuality. So we get some quite amusingly oblique "wink, nudge" references to it, the highlight being Mason's line about "button stitching."
183	** Hannibal's LuxuryPrisonSuite after he's finally caught, especially since not one person sees fit to comment on it, or how much it contrasts to the tiny cage Will was put in.
184	** Francis Dolarhyde's insistence that he is The Great Red Dragon might remind one of the infamous [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fck-you-im-a-dragon Fuck you! I'm a dragon!]] meme.
185	* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize: In Season 2, [[spoiler:Will's attendant is played by recognizable TV actor Jonathan Tucker, despite being completely OutOfFocus. He's eventually revealed to be the one who murdered the bailiff during the trial]].
186	* OlderThanTheyThink: The source books popularized a great deal of serial killer tropes, and originated some of them. Some viewers have complained about the focus on ''yet another'' tortured profiler... when really, Will Graham was the basis for a great many tortured profiler characters.
187	* OneSceneWonder: Will's lawyer in season two (Shawn Doyle). [[spoiler:Upon opening an envelope containing a severed ear,]]
188	-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Leonard Brauer]]''': [[DissonantSerenity I think I got your mail]].
189	** Played with. While they have a few scenes in each of their respective episodes, Creator/MollyShannon and Creator/AmandaPlummer have very little screen time in their guest appearance episodes as killers.
190	** Played straight with Creator/LanceHenriksen, who plays a season one serial killer. We only see him in once scene when he's confronted by Jack Crawford and Will Graham. Even with one scene to act in, Henriksen is CHILLING.
191	* ParanoiaFuel: Doctors/psychologists as unremittingly evil as Hannibal Lecter are few and tend to get sued for malpractice. But ''abusers'' who use the techniques he does undermining Will's stability are all too common -- and because of the nature of those techniques, the victim may not realize that anything is wrong, or might even believe that whatever ''is'' wrong is ''their'' fault.
192	** It's implied that Hannibal was plotting [[spoiler:the FrameUp of Frederick Chilton]] for ''two years'', during which time [[spoiler:Chilton]] carried on completely unsuspecting.
193	* PortmanteauCoupleName:
194	** Hannigram.
195	** Abigram/Abigill for Will and Abigail Hobbs.
196	** Hannibloom for Hannibal and Alana.
197	** Hannidelia for Hannibal and Bedelia.
198	** [=ChillyWilly=] for Chilton and Will.
199	** Margolana/Marlana started showing up immediately after Margot Verger and Alana Bloom's first scene together.
200	** Brownham for Will and Matthew Brown.
201	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
202	** Not quite completely rescued, but Freddie Lounds received a lot of appreciation from fans in "Rôti". In the episode, [[spoiler:she's tricked into getting kidnapped by a serial killer and forced to watch him perform a vivisection on a man while he's still conscious]], and despite naturally being horrified and disturbed, she manages to remain calm and hold herself together instead of [[IdiotBall doing anything stupid]] in a difficult and terrifying situation.
203	** Inverted with [[spoiler: Hannibal.]] People liked him very much early on, but as his actions started to really hurt [[TheWoobie Will and Abigail]], the fandom felt he was going too far. By the season finale, [[spoiler: when he killed Abigail and framed Will after nearly driving the latter to insanity]], people outright hated him. Says a lot about the skilled writing and nuanced performances of the series that it took a whole season for some people to start rooting against [[spoiler:Hannibal]].
204	** Frederick Chilton, after beginning to show some HiddenDepths and being a walking SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment\|s}} during "Futamono", may have officially rescued himself with three little words: "Hannibal the Cannibal." By the time of [[spoiler:his [[ADeathInTheLimelight apparent death]], fans were ''screaming'' in protest, compared to the collective shoulder-shrug when he was disemboweled in the first season.]]
205	** After traveling with the JerkassBall and IdiotBall for the middle portion of Season 2, Alana's tough, competent self comes roaring back in "Ko no Mono". [[spoiler: By "Mizumono", she's willing to shoot Hannibal in cold blood!]] This continues in Season 3, as she becomes something of TheStoic and [[spoiler:[[FanPreferredCouple joins up with Margot]]]] for an elaborate scheme to bring down Mason Verger ''and'' Hannibal Lecter.
206	* RetroactiveRecognition: Dan Fowler played Franklyn Froidevaux (one of Hannibal’s patients) in the first season a few years before he was cast as Jacob Kowalski in ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem''. In a funny coincidence, Mikkelsen was eventually cast to take to over the BigBad role of Gellert Grindelwald in the same franchise for the third film.
207	* ShipToShipCombat:
208	** Hannibal/Will versus Hannibal/Clarice.
209	** A much milder example is Will/Alana versus Will/Beverly.
210	%%* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/Millennium1996''.
211	* SpoiledByTheFormat: A weird one caused by another show, as Laurence Fishburne was cast on ''Series/{{Blackish}}'' after Season 2, which involved a well-publicized explanation of how he would split his time between the two shows. Naturally, this gave away that Jack would survive his injuries from the cliffhanger.
212	* {{Squick}}:
213	** The [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]] scenes, especially when Hannibal is still preparing the chosen organs.
214	** The shot of the inside of the opera singer's throat in Episode 7 is pretty gross as well.
215	** Yet another example is [[spoiler:Will vomiting up a human ear in "Savoureux".]]
216	** In the second season premiere, we get a nice, extended cut of [[spoiler: Hannibal forcing the ear down Will's throat with a tube while the latter is more or less unconscious.]] The background noise was pretty nauseating, to say the least.
217	** Taken to new levels with "Sakizuki", with the first couple of minutes showing us every excruciating detail of [[spoiler: Roland Umber ripping himself out of the killer's mural. Seriously, the shots of all that flesh and skin being torn free... shudders]]
218	** And [[SerialEscalation topped yet again]] in "Tome-wan" when we get to see quite a bit of [[spoiler: Mason Verger mutilating and even eating his own face]], something even the R-rated film series showed much less directly. In this instance, the Squick borders on outright NauseaFuel.
219	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler:In the Season 2 finale, Abigail Hobbs is revealed to still be alive... and then Hannibal slits her throat just minutes later. Season 3 then teases us with her survival, only to reveal she ''did'' die and her appearances in the second episode were just Will's imagination. Basically, for all the impact she had on the plot after the reveal that Hannibal had kept her alive and captive for months, she might as well have just been actually killed the first time.]]
220	** Kade Prurnell, despite being the show equivalent of Paul Krendler (down to her name being anagram of Krendler's), never shows up in Season 3 when the first half of the season adapts ''Hannibal''.
221	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: With almost all characters eventually becoming corrupted by Hannibal's influence, it may be hard for anyone outside the show's loyal fanbase to find someone worth rooting for; almost every character eventually gives up any kind of ethics, and the fans cheering when anyone sinks into depravity actually makes it ''worse.''
222	* TheWoobie:
223	** Will. When he relived the [[spoiler: murder of the night nurse]] in Episode 6, he has tears in his eyes. [[spoiler: Watching Will being deceived, driven to madness, and framed for murder by a man he trusted was devastating.]]
224	** Abigail, [[spoiler:who was forced to cooperate with her father's crimes, then manipulated and murdered by Hannibal.]]
225	** Peter Bernadone. Poor Peter Bernadone.
226	** Alana, who was [[spoiler:manipulated, seduced, and then (indirectly) thrown out of a window by the man she thought was her mentor.]]
227	** Margot. Her parents disowned her for being a lesbian and her brother is a PsychopathicManchild with a thing for flesh-eating pigs. It gets even worse after Mason [[spoiler:forcibly removes her uterus to prevent her from having a male child and thus being free of him.]]
228	[[/folder]]
229

Context YMMV / Hannibal