Will Graham

Will Graham is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Hannibal Lecter) of NBC's Hannibal.

Will is a criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, who has a unique ability he uses to identify and understand the killers he tracks. Will lives in a farm house in Wolf Trap, Virginia, with his family of dogs (all of whom he adopted as strays). Originally teaching forensic classes for the FBI, he was brought back into the field by Jack Crawford and worked alongside Hannibal Lecter to track down serial killers.

Will has a unique psychological ability that he refers to as "interpreting the evidence". In reality, he is able to assume the state of mind of a murderer after visiting the crime scene, and recreates the thinking (as well as the actions) with himself as the killer in order to understand more about them. Hannibal describes his ability as "pure empathy".

Despite suffering from Anti-NMDA encephalitis, Will eventually realized that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper. Will had spent some time in the Baltimore State Hospital For The Criminally Insane after being framed as the "Copycat Killer", a serial killer responsible for the deaths of four individuals resembling the work of other killers. In reality, these acts were committed by the Chesapeake Ripper, who later laid claim to these murders, setting Will free. With Frederick Chilton currently considered the Chesapeake Ripper by the FBI, Will remains unswayed from his certainty that the killer is, in fact, Hannibal Lecter. He's currently playing his own game with Hannibal, resuming his "therapy" and seemingly befriending the man he's been at odds with since his own manipulation. However, Will quickly becomes lost in the game and more and more, he sides with Hannibal.

Will kills Randall Tier, sent to him by Hannibal, with his bare hands, inspired a conversation with Hannibal about guns lacking intimacy. However, Will lies to Hannibal by faking the death of Freddie Lounds in an effort to further gain his friendship and trust. Will even stores and brings parts of Randall Tier to Hannibal and consumes them with him, claiming that it was actually parts of Freddie Lounds. Hannibal only realized the ruse because his heightened sense of smell helped him realize that Freddie Lounds was not, in fact, dead. Will chooses to warn Hannibal about the danger in the end, but it is too late, and Hannibal's response to Will's betrayal left Will himself, Abigail Hobbs, Alana Bloom, and Jack Crawford barely clinging to life in the Season 2 finale, "Mizumono".

Background Will is a former homicide detective who lost his job due to not being able to use his gun when necessary. Therefore, he teaches at the FBI college. He has no recollection of his mother, who left his life when he was very young.

Personality Will is a deeply complex man. He describes himself as being on the autism spectrum, due to his social difficulties and lack of eye contact; however, it is contrasted by his sociopathic tendencies and his enjoyment of killing, which makes this statement questionable. Will has trouble making friends and can be perceived as awkward or even cold by others. He is courageous and highly intelligent and develops a knack for manipulation, even being able to trick Hannibal on several occasions. Will has an incredible gift for empathy, described by Hannibal as "pure empathy", easily being able to sense and interpret the feelings and motives of other people, specifically killers. However, this has a downside; whilst it makes him a brilliant profiler and invaluable asset to the FBI, it also feeds his darkness, which begins to resurface more and more often with Hannibal's help. Will regularly adopts and cares for stray dogs. He is protective of his friends, in particular Abigail Hobbs, whom he comes to view as a surrogate daughter.

Will constantly struggles to hold back his dark side. He derived a sense of pleasure in killing Garret Jacob Hobbs and often dreams or fantasizes about committing murders, though he tries not to act on them. Will finds himself tempted to run away with Hannibal, as he feels Hannibal is the only person who has ever truly understood and accepted Will unconditionally. In the end, Will's darkness gains its full potential - he indirectly assists in mutilating Dr. Chilton and organizes the death of numerous FBI agents to set up Hannibal's escape from prison. He then describes his killing of Francis Dolarhyde with Hannibal as "beautiful". Will appears to lack remorse for the killing of those who died because of him, such as Hobbs, Randall Tier, Francis Dolarhyde, Mason Verger, Chiyoh's prisoner, FBI agents, etc. In the post-credits of Season 3, it is implied that Will and Hannibal pay a visit to Hannibal's friend Bedelia Du Maurier, mutilating and consuming her leg. Will is a former homicide detective who lost his job due to not being able to use his gun when necessary. Therefore, he teaches at the FBI college. He has no recollection of his mother, who left his life when he was very young.