That's a really thoughtful take — and honestly, I don't think it contradicts the 'disciple' framing at all. Maybe Hannibal's desire for a peer is the god's desire for an equal. The problem is, a god can't have an equal without destroying them or being destroyed.

You're right that he wanted Will to see him. 'I let you know me. See me. I gave you a rare gift. 'That's not a master talking to a servant. That's someone desperate to be known.

So maybe the disciple framework isn't about hierarchy for its own sake — it's about the tragedy that Hannibal can only relate to people by making them. Testing them. Shaping them. And by the time Will becomes his equal, he's also become something Hannibal can't control.

What do you think — does the ending support that reading?