Born in Lafeyette, Lousiana, Will Graham was raised by a single father.  They were never wealthy, mainly travelling up and down the coast with the season, repairing boats and motors, and whatever other work they could find.  It wasn’t a luxurious life, but his father always managed to find just enough to make ends meet.

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When Will was eighteen, his father passed away unexpectedly.  He’d always wanted to help people, and with no money for university, Will enrolled in the police academy.  Even from a young age, Will hadn’t thought like most people; school councellors had tried to define him, and failed.  

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But with the police, they found a use for his imagination. And there was money and grants, for rags to respectability stories like his.  For the first time in his life, Will had something like a plan.  He was going to finish university, and help make the world safer.

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Unfortunately, as he discovered, he also didn’t have the stomach to pull the trigger when he needed to.  And the police had no place for a man like that.  Given a psychiatric discharge, Will found himself knocked back down to nothing, virtually overnight.

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It was sheer luck that a professor at the FBI Academy remembered Will from one of his guest lectures, and managed to pull a few strings.  

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Will excelled at teaching.  It was a one-sided interaction; he lectured, and they took notes. He answered questions on topical things, where he knew the right answers.  He was happy there.. Until Jack Crawford, head of the Behavioral Science team, decided to make use of his unique abilities.

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Going back into the field, and meeting Hannibal Lecter, changed everything.  And the tenuous balance of Will’s mind would never be the same again.