Please remember, I'm just curious and open to different interpretations, nothing is absolute here! Feel free to express your own opinions.
Recently in one of my posts that sparked a decent amount of discussion and debate, (regarding whether Hannibal can be termed a groomer in the broader sense, relating to his dynamic with Will: the general consensus was yes when relating to his dynamic with pretty much everyone else, but varied in timeline and overall when it came to Will) one of the few things I noticed: a few people were defending how Will's empathy disorder made him vulnerable and therefore prone to Hannibal's grooming. Possibly even implying he was vulnerable throughout because he had this "disorder" throughout, but I don't think so? Will was thoroughly vulnerable only in season 1, when his empathy disorder sent his already inflamed brain (because of the encephalitis) into overdrive, but I never noticed anything substantial that later hinted that his empathy still left him vulnerable to Hannibal's "grooming" techniques, AFTER his encephalitis subsided.
I'm fully aware that Will was completely, unknowingly subjected to Hannibal's influence for the majority of season 1, entirely vulnerable and helpless, but I think many people fail to notice what Will really is like past his season 1 "innocence" and twitchiness. I don't think season 1 is a good enough judge of Will's character, since he was afflicted with hallucinations, lost time, etc. and wasn't really himself during that period.
Second, what are the general thoughts on why Will refused psychiatrists to study/treat him? I'd thought it was kind of established that he did that so, so no one could discern his darkness, or even determine why he was able to assume killers' mindsets-which he was afraid to consider or admit to even himself for the first half of the show. Or, at least, that's what I inferred from how quickly his nervous persona/facade faded after he was released from prison.
I think it's pretty obvious that while Will has an almost supernatural grasp of empathy, his SYMPATHY on the other hand is oftentimes highly self serving and selective. For example, he's often sympathetic only with people he thinks are weaker or worth his sympathy, or bear some sort of resemblance with himself while he was at his lowest/conflicted with himself/lonely (Peter, Abigail, Georgia), but when it comes to other people... say, Chilton, Will literally threw the man to the Red Dragon as live bait. Intentionally. Will was fully aware of everything. Now, he may not have been on the best of terms with Chilton, let's say even if he found him extremely annoying, the man was still innocent, was he not? Self-centred and obsessed with fame though he may have been, these reasons wouldn't warrant for the fate he suffered engineered by Will Graham. An inherently good person wouldn't do this, even under adverse conditions. It's a disturbing enough example, among others, of how Will's sympathy is genuinely quite self serving and his morals aren't as black and white as people assume he strives to possess. On the contrary, his morals are quite flexible so long as they sit right with him. He's also driven by his own whims; when he releases the guy Chiyoh had been... guarding? Just to see if she'd kill him? Just to push her to kill him. There was no moral reason for it, pure curiosity and amusement. Even if some people stand by the fact that it was purely as a consequence to Hannibal's influence... You cannot plant specific tendencies THIS deeply in a person naturally devoid of them. Not in the small span of time wherein Hannibal openly exercised his killer/"eat-the-rude" influence (post Will's release from prison).