Will Graham (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
collects_strays) wrote2014-02-05 12:02 am
collects_strays) wrote2014-02-05 12:02 am
[OOC] Reference Post
This incarnation of Will Graham is from the TV show Hannibal, with heavy injections of the novel Red Dragon, as is consistent with the show.
Warnings
Hannibal, and Will's storyline in particular, involve a lot of dark or potentially triggering material, which I have no interest in posting without warning. These include:
- Discussion of mental and neurological illness, including instances of his being abused and manipulated by his medical professionals, as well as instances of other characters exploiting stigma associated with mental illness.
- Depictions of incarceration.
- Will's own (fictional) condition, which he sometimes conflates with either mental illness or neuroatypicality. This condition also often causes him to experience varying levels of social anxiety and sensory overload, trauma, grief, and depression.
- A lot of violence, gore, and yes, cannibalism.
I'll keep direct references to this out of EPs, and put specific warnings on OOMs. It may come up in threads, so please, feel free to ping me, message me, or leave a comment here with anything on the spectrum of "please avoid my characters" to "please don't let [x] come up" to "please tell me if [x] is going to come up." And I will do it, no problem.
Will's "Empathy"
Will has a kind of ability/way of thinking that is described as "pure empathy" combined with a "very active imagination." There are a lot of vague terms used to describe it, and probably the closest real life analogous conditions are forms of echophenomenon including echopraxia, echolalia, and echomimia (repetition of actions, voices, and facial expressions, all of which Will may do at different points); but the bottom line is, it's Not A Real Thing and borders into magical. For these reasons I'm sort of disinclined to associate it too directly with any real world condition. (Canonically Will describes himself as being "closer" to autism, and I'll give it that in the sense that at a base level, it is along the lines of a different way of functioning. But that's about as far as I'd go with it.) These passages sort of give an idea of the more restrained, non-magic version from the original novel:
Jack Crawford heard the rhythm and syntax of his own speech in Graham’s voice. He had heard Graham do that before, with other people. Often in intense conversation Graham took on the other person’s speech patterns. At first, Crawford had thought he was doing it deliberately, that it was a gimmick to get the back-and-forth rhythm going.
Later Crawford realized that Graham did it involuntarily, that sometimes he tried to stop and couldn’t.
...
Graham had a lot of trouble with taste. Often his thoughts were not tasty. There were no effective partitions in his mind. What he saw and learned touched everything else he knew. Some of the combinations were hard to live with. But he could not anticipate them, could not block and repress. His learned values of decency and propriety tagged along, shocked at his associations, appalled at his dreams; sorry that in the bone arena of his skull there were no forts for what he loved. His associations came at the speed of light. His value judgments were at the pace of a responsive reading. They could never keep up and direct his thinking.
He viewed his own mentality as grotesque but useful, like a chair made of antlers. There was nothing he could do about it.
The novel also quotes Alphonse Bertillon: "One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind."
The most straightforward way I can phrase this version of Will's ability is that he can (or really, has to) experience what he perceives in others. He is not a telepath – he can't know what anyone else is thinking, but may be able to experience how they are thinking. In theory, this stems from what he can perceive, whether because he's speaking to the person directly, or even just from viewing some place they've been or something they've created (e.g., in the show, he's usually doing this at crime scenes). But it ultimately amounts to his making superhuman and usually accurate intuitive jumps in the form of experiencing, rather than just observing. The quasi-magical realist nature of the show also contributes to it pretty much being magic except in name.
So while he can't read others' minds, he may be able to pick up things about them without obvious hints or clues. How this works varies tremendously and again is very undefined in the show. I play him as generally "empathing," so to speak, with others, whether he wants to or not, but to varying degrees. People who are more emotionally open, and more open about their intentions, are more likely to get this kind of response. Those who are more closed off are less so, unless he makes a concerted effort to read them, which he is really unlikely to do. On the scale of something like a conversation, this kind of thing will likely take the form of Will starting to speak and move like the person he's talking to, and experiencing the emotions they express. Again, this isn't something he can actively stop himself from doing – if someone gives him less to perceive, then, well, he'll do it less, but at best he can only focus his "empathing" so to speak – he can't lessen or stop it.
What this means is that I'm going to be making a lot of judgment calls on what I think Will would perceive or pick up on or begin to express himself during a thread. Again, he can't read other's minds, but for instance, he can sometimes draw conclusions (or more precisely, express conclusions) about what others are thinking by experiencing how they're thinking. If he ends up perceiving something you'd rather he didn't, just contact me (ping-message-comment!) and I'll change it. I'm super flexible about this. If there are things you'd like to see him perceive or pick up on, let me know, or at least give me some indication in tag narration, and I will work with you to make it happen!
As a note, this ability also causes him to experience a degree of social anxiety, given that as a rule interacting with others means experiencing this sort of psychic intrusion whether he wants it or not. This means that he tends to avoid eye contact (even with people whose company he actually likes), and that he doesn't have a whole lot of experience with relationships or being sociable, and so may be kind of awkward or quiet, and sometimes pretty snippy. He's just not very good with how human interaction works, or what to expect from it. And sometimes he gets kind of grumpy doing something he's not good at, or having to deal with the mentioned psychic intrusion. (Another example: generally, the more someone openly tries to look into him, the more he has to look into them. And he doesn't get a choice about it.)
And of course, feel free to contact me if you have any comments, because I know that wasn't the most straightforward explanation ever. Basically, it's vague, and I'm flexible, and I can make it work as needed.
Misc.
- I refer to him has "Graham" in tag narration because this follows along with the style of Red Dragon. It's purely personal preference. Also, in playing a character who is so steeped in taking in/reflecting others, it gives me a level of emotional disconnect with him, which I like to have. If I call him Will, it means I'm slipping at that.
- The accent he has now is a product of living in the northern Virginia-Baltimore area for the last few years. This is despite that he spent most of his life moving around the coastal South and the Great Lakes region, and then going to college and working as a cop in New Orleans. No matter where he is, he'll very quickly start to speak like those around him.
Warnings
Hannibal, and Will's storyline in particular, involve a lot of dark or potentially triggering material, which I have no interest in posting without warning. These include:
- Discussion of mental and neurological illness, including instances of his being abused and manipulated by his medical professionals, as well as instances of other characters exploiting stigma associated with mental illness.
- Depictions of incarceration.
- Will's own (fictional) condition, which he sometimes conflates with either mental illness or neuroatypicality. This condition also often causes him to experience varying levels of social anxiety and sensory overload, trauma, grief, and depression.
- A lot of violence, gore, and yes, cannibalism.
I'll keep direct references to this out of EPs, and put specific warnings on OOMs. It may come up in threads, so please, feel free to ping me, message me, or leave a comment here with anything on the spectrum of "please avoid my characters" to "please don't let [x] come up" to "please tell me if [x] is going to come up." And I will do it, no problem.
Will's "Empathy"
Will has a kind of ability/way of thinking that is described as "pure empathy" combined with a "very active imagination." There are a lot of vague terms used to describe it, and probably the closest real life analogous conditions are forms of echophenomenon including echopraxia, echolalia, and echomimia (repetition of actions, voices, and facial expressions, all of which Will may do at different points); but the bottom line is, it's Not A Real Thing and borders into magical. For these reasons I'm sort of disinclined to associate it too directly with any real world condition. (Canonically Will describes himself as being "closer" to autism, and I'll give it that in the sense that at a base level, it is along the lines of a different way of functioning. But that's about as far as I'd go with it.) These passages sort of give an idea of the more restrained, non-magic version from the original novel:
Jack Crawford heard the rhythm and syntax of his own speech in Graham’s voice. He had heard Graham do that before, with other people. Often in intense conversation Graham took on the other person’s speech patterns. At first, Crawford had thought he was doing it deliberately, that it was a gimmick to get the back-and-forth rhythm going.
Later Crawford realized that Graham did it involuntarily, that sometimes he tried to stop and couldn’t.
...
Graham had a lot of trouble with taste. Often his thoughts were not tasty. There were no effective partitions in his mind. What he saw and learned touched everything else he knew. Some of the combinations were hard to live with. But he could not anticipate them, could not block and repress. His learned values of decency and propriety tagged along, shocked at his associations, appalled at his dreams; sorry that in the bone arena of his skull there were no forts for what he loved. His associations came at the speed of light. His value judgments were at the pace of a responsive reading. They could never keep up and direct his thinking.
He viewed his own mentality as grotesque but useful, like a chair made of antlers. There was nothing he could do about it.
The novel also quotes Alphonse Bertillon: "One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind."
The most straightforward way I can phrase this version of Will's ability is that he can (or really, has to) experience what he perceives in others. He is not a telepath – he can't know what anyone else is thinking, but may be able to experience how they are thinking. In theory, this stems from what he can perceive, whether because he's speaking to the person directly, or even just from viewing some place they've been or something they've created (e.g., in the show, he's usually doing this at crime scenes). But it ultimately amounts to his making superhuman and usually accurate intuitive jumps in the form of experiencing, rather than just observing. The quasi-magical realist nature of the show also contributes to it pretty much being magic except in name.
So while he can't read others' minds, he may be able to pick up things about them without obvious hints or clues. How this works varies tremendously and again is very undefined in the show. I play him as generally "empathing," so to speak, with others, whether he wants to or not, but to varying degrees. People who are more emotionally open, and more open about their intentions, are more likely to get this kind of response. Those who are more closed off are less so, unless he makes a concerted effort to read them, which he is really unlikely to do. On the scale of something like a conversation, this kind of thing will likely take the form of Will starting to speak and move like the person he's talking to, and experiencing the emotions they express. Again, this isn't something he can actively stop himself from doing – if someone gives him less to perceive, then, well, he'll do it less, but at best he can only focus his "empathing" so to speak – he can't lessen or stop it.
What this means is that I'm going to be making a lot of judgment calls on what I think Will would perceive or pick up on or begin to express himself during a thread. Again, he can't read other's minds, but for instance, he can sometimes draw conclusions (or more precisely, express conclusions) about what others are thinking by experiencing how they're thinking. If he ends up perceiving something you'd rather he didn't, just contact me (ping-message-comment!) and I'll change it. I'm super flexible about this. If there are things you'd like to see him perceive or pick up on, let me know, or at least give me some indication in tag narration, and I will work with you to make it happen!
As a note, this ability also causes him to experience a degree of social anxiety, given that as a rule interacting with others means experiencing this sort of psychic intrusion whether he wants it or not. This means that he tends to avoid eye contact (even with people whose company he actually likes), and that he doesn't have a whole lot of experience with relationships or being sociable, and so may be kind of awkward or quiet, and sometimes pretty snippy. He's just not very good with how human interaction works, or what to expect from it. And sometimes he gets kind of grumpy doing something he's not good at, or having to deal with the mentioned psychic intrusion. (Another example: generally, the more someone openly tries to look into him, the more he has to look into them. And he doesn't get a choice about it.)
And of course, feel free to contact me if you have any comments, because I know that wasn't the most straightforward explanation ever. Basically, it's vague, and I'm flexible, and I can make it work as needed.
Misc.
- I refer to him has "Graham" in tag narration because this follows along with the style of Red Dragon. It's purely personal preference. Also, in playing a character who is so steeped in taking in/reflecting others, it gives me a level of emotional disconnect with him, which I like to have. If I call him Will, it means I'm slipping at that.
- The accent he has now is a product of living in the northern Virginia-Baltimore area for the last few years. This is despite that he spent most of his life moving around the coastal South and the Great Lakes region, and then going to college and working as a cop in New Orleans. No matter where he is, he'll very quickly start to speak like those around him.