Why the habit continues is not explained in the books nor the movies other than for enjoyment and the love of cooking. However, as one of the characters he murders says: 'You have to kill everyone who knows, don't you?' It would appear that he also needs to eat from the men who ate from his sister. Hannibal has suppressed the memory of eating the broth made from his sister. After fifty years of practice his palace has such a greatness that he can escape into it and can resist torture by staying in his own mind. This is how he has achieved his photographic memory. Something else the movies don't explain very well is the fact that Hannibal has been trained from boyhood in the ancient art of building a memory-palace. He accepts and they find true happiness together. She offers him her breast and tells him that this one will never be taken from him. She asks him: ' Were you ever angry at Misha because she took your mothers breast from you?' to which he replies that he doesn't remember (a probable lie).

After this meal, she seduces Hannibal and helps him achieve closure over the death of his sister. He uses hypnosis and narcotics, and Starling is unable to fight him and actually partakes in eating Agent Krendler's brain. In the final chapter, Hannibal actually keeps Agent Starling in a childlike state and helps her achieve closure over the death of her father. This is where the book Hannibal diverges in the extreme from the movie Hannibal: He, however, believes he has found a way in Clarice Starling. He even tries to build equations that could reverse entropy and thus the the flow of time - these calculations are described as elegant at first but quickly devolving into insanity and wish-fulfillment.

It's important to understand that Hannibal Lecter is insane and is trying to reverse the death of his sister Misha.

Hannibal lecter book series