Alana Bloom

"Forgiveness isn't all it's cracked up to be, Mr. Verger. I don't need religion to appreciate the idea of Old Testament revenge."

- Alana Bloom

Alana Bloom is a secondary antagonist in the third season of the NBC television series, Hannibal. She is a psychiatrist who is the former love interest of the main protagonist, Will Graham, and the former sexual partner of the titular antagonist, Hannibal Lecter, who became the crux of her villainy.

She is portrayed by Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas in the televsion series.

Personality
Initially, Alana is shown to be very professional, intelligent and reserved, yet naive. She performs her duties as a psychiatrist by the book, which is generally effective, but fails with certain dangerous patients, such as Abel Gideon. She is very defensive of those she cares about, which serves as a boon for those struggling, such as Will Graham, but can also be utilized as a factor of manipulation by deceitful characters, like Hannibal Lecter. While she has strong reservations, Alana is willing to engage in romantic and sexual behaviors, which also has played significantly into her relations with Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter.

Following her maiming and subsequent corruption, Alana takes on a remarkably different personality. She is shown to be icy and sardonic, which is underlined by her new-found obsession to see Hannibal Lecter pay for manipulating, seducing and maiming her. Contrasting her original outlook, Alana is willing to break the law and engage in unscrupulous behavior to see her objective fulfilled. However, witnessing her plans put those she cares about in danger supercedes her corrupt intentions.

Background
Alana went to school to secure a PhD in Psychiatry. While there, she studied under Hannibal Lecter, who she came to respect as being a great mentor, colleague and friend. However, the two of them had differences in approach, as Hannibal was very organic and orthodox in his methodology while Alana was a star pupil who followed textbook principle to the letter. Nonetheless, Hannibal prized Alana for maintaining an exceptionally distinct personality.

Alana graduated with a PhD and went on to become an esteemed psychiatrist, guest lecturer and FBI consulting profiler. Through her work, Alana met a forensics expert called Will Graham and the two shared a romance. However, Alana came to realize that while Will was exceptionally bright, he was unstable and prone to go too deep into the darkness he analyzed, so she broke off the relationship, but the two remained friends.

Bringing down Hannibal
Following Hannibal's betrayal and her maiming, Alana slowly recovers from her grievous injuries. As the fractures send bone marrow into her bloodstream, Alana's personality takes an indefinite shift and she becomes more ruthless. Chilton, looking for an ally in his quest to have Hannibal admitted to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, approaches Alana, but she displays no interest in furthering his goals and taking the legal route.

Alana is released from the hospital, but now has a permanent limp. She meets with Will, but is given the cold shoulder from her disturbed former love interest. She then approaches Mason Verger and strikes a deal with him, in which she will provide her psychiatric expertise in exchange for seeing Hannibal suffer for the damage inflicted on her. In the meantime, she develops romantic feelings for Mason's sister, Margot.

An Italian inspector with previous history with Hannibal, Rinaldo Pazzi, discovers where his old adversary is and calls for Mason's bounty. Alana clarifies to Pazzi that Hannival's capture will lead to his torture and death. After the phone conversation is over, Alana points out to Mason that Pazzi would certainly die at Hannibal's hand, which he did within the short time after.

Alana and Margot become lovers and engage in passionate sexual encounters. During these, Alana admits that she has no intention of seeing Hannibal dead, but that she wishes for him to be tortured, then apprehended by the FBI.

Utilizing her intimate knowledge of Hannibal, Alana determines where Hannibal's psychiatrist and lover, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, has been shopping in Florence, Italy. Mason utilizes this lead to have the Italian police capture Hannibal and Will, while killing Jack off as a witness.

Hannibal and Will are brought to Muskrat Farm, where the two are to be tortured and horrifically murdered. After Margot is told by Mason that her eggs have been placed in a surrogate, Alana joins her to see that Margot's dead fetus is resting inside a pig. Realizing that not only Jack was ordered to be killed, but that Hannibal and Will would suffer undeserved fates, Alana decides to adjust her course and redeem herself. She frees Hannibal, who promises to save Will, though his testament about upholding promises is implicit that he will eventually see her dead. Thus, Hannibal murders every person loyal to Mason and brings Will to safety.

Three years later
Three years after Hannibal's arrest and public infamy, Alana is the Administrator of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. As Hannibal was sentenced with an insanity plea, Alana is bemused and frustrated with his incarceration. She visits with Hannibal, who continues to make thinly-veiled threats about her demise.

Trivia

 * Alana Bloom is an adaptation of the male psychiatrist Alan Bloom, who appears in the Red Dragon novel and is referenced in the film adaptations. Unlike the television adaptation, Alan Bloom did not have a romance with any characters and did not fall into villainy.