empathicfault | Will's Insight

In the series Hannibal, Will Graham is shown to have a unique ability- he calls it 'interpreting the evidence', whereas Hannibal calls it 'pure empathy'. It lets Will know what the people around him are feeling, often to Will's detriment. Will frequently appears to be overstimulated by the outside world, slumping in chairs and avoiding eye contact. He finds comfort in dogs and being alone.

However, this ability can often be extremely useful for determining motivations, desires, and fears. When he uses it at crime scenes, the series shows murders taking place as if Will were the culprit. He sees fantastical visions and metaphorical imagery as he places himself in his target's place, seeing the world as they see it.

I'd like to write out some of this imagery in narration as I roleplay, but I also don't want to infomod. So if you are interested in letting Will into knowing your character through this ability, please reply here.

What I'd like to know (feel free to copy+paste, or just write out what you'd like)--

1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character? He works in emotions, so fears, desires, motivations, immediate wants, all that sort of thing is good.

2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up? Will isn't magic and he's not always right with this ability. It's easy to veer off of any topic you might want to avoid.

3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize? Sometimes he sees things that don't seem to make a whole lot of sense until later- I tend to interpret that as him integrating evidence that he hasn't logically noticed yet.

4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic? Let me know, I'd love to plan with you! Will could be a good way to weasel info or feelings out of someone who would otherwise keep them hidden, if that's something you'd like. I'm also very happy to just see where things go.

Thanks, and please let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to know or talk over with you.

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1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character?
Maggie is warm and friendly and welcoming and kind, but she's also got a deep core of stubbornness and sheer protective spite. She would walk through fire for her people, and she would also kill for them if she had to.

She has a lot of loneliness and need as well, but tends to do fairly well finding people to fill it. It just looms in the background sometimes.

She's pretty good at balancing priorities, but sometimes it weighs on her, all the times she has to choose. The sacrifices she makes willingly, with her eyes open.

She believes in Sweeney, but she's also terrified of failing him.

Blood horrifies her on a visceral level, so anything bloody comes with a pretty strong wave of fear/revulsion, even if she's been getting better at stifling and coping with that lately.

2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up?
I'm cool with anything!

3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize?
Maggie's dogs back home are all miniature bulldogs. I associate her with forest clearings, vegetable gardens, fresh picked strawberries, popcorn and parties. Horror movies in general, but I don't have a specific character/movie association there. The obvious zombie imagery, considering she's from a post-zombie uprising world. She's referenced Greek mythology in some of her poems (specifically, there's a canon one that mentions Hades and Persephone), so that's also a viable option.

4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic?
I'm terrible at pre-plotting and tend to just throw characters together, but if anything here resonates, let me know and I'm happy to look for opportunities to bring it up!

Thanks for replying! So despite Maggie being so good at connecting with people that Will is going to be a little confused about it, he really understands the desire to protect others, to the point of murder, suffering, and/or death. So that's something they might connect on sometime.

And yay, he'll have some nice imagery to go with everything else here. (I mean, yes zombies, but still!) Will is going to appreciate that. Also dogs!

Mags cares so much, and also she wants to do a murder whenever anyone harms her people.

I'm never quite sure whether canon is hyperbolic when it says Maggie has 2 dozen dogs, because it's written from Shaun's point of view and he's not a dog person. But she might literally have two dozen dogs. A ridiculous pack of overbred purebreds abandoned due to health problems; I headcanon that the primary thing she uses her trust fund for is the astronomical vet bills.

So many dogs! Will technically had 9 by the end of the show- I had thought that was hyperbole, myself. But hooray for basically having your own shelter. That immediately endeared Will, hearing about that.

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