Hannibal Lecter

• Red Dragon - both 1986's Manhunter, which names him "Lecktor", as well as 2002's Red Dragon
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Hannibal

In Harris' novels and the films based upon them, Dr. Lecter is a brilliant, though insane, psychiatrist and psychopathic serial killer, who practices cannibalism upon his victims.

Hannibal Lecter's character represents the continuation of a long-line of homicidal psychopathic serial killers portrayed in film. Perhaps the earliest to portray a serial killer was Fritz Lang's 1931 film "M," which featured a young Peter Lorre as a child murderer. After a lengthy hiatus, Alfred Hitchcock revived the genre with his experimental 1960 blockbuster "Psycho" starring Anthony Perkins, which was based loosely on the murders committed by psychopath Ed Gein.

The film-going public continues to be morbidly fascinated with serial killers as arch-villains, and Hollywood and TV producers continue to milk the subject. Popular films within the genre include "Dirty Harry," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the various "Halloween" and "Scream" films, "Copycat," and numerous others. Popular TV series such as Kolchak, The X-files, and Millennium often featured serial killers.

Brian Cox was the first actor to play Lecter, in the 1986 movie Manhunter. But it is Anthony Hopkins who most movie goers recognize as Lecter, appearing in Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001), and Red Dragon (2002). There is talk of yet another movie being made about Lecter, a prequel about Lecter's early life.

Recently, the American Film Institute named Hannibal Lecter as played by Hopkins as the number one film villain of all time.

Warning: Spoilers follow

The following information deals with material in the books, and not the movies.

Hannibal Lecter was born in the year 1938 in Lithuania to wealthy parents. A younger sister, Mishca, would arrive three or four years later.

When Lecter was six a group of Nazis invaded his family's estate. Lecter, along with his sister and a group of children, hid in a nearby barn. Lecter survived, but Mischa was taken away and eaten by the group of Nazis. It is believed that this is the event that would shape the rest of Lecter's life.

His activities are largely unknown until the 1970s. During this time, he set up his psychiatric establishment and began to help those around Baltimore, Maryland. His wealth began to grow as his patients began to release funds and stocks to him.

Before Lecter was caught, it was believed that he had killed a total of seven, most of which were his patients. His signature was to cook and eat the parts of those he killed. There are only two known victims to survive.

Only two of the nine victims are known by name in the books: Mason Verger and Benjamin Raspail. Mason Verger went through psychiatric counseling with Lecter after being convicted of child molestion. Lecter fed Verger various drugs. Under Lecter's suggestions, Verger cut off large pieces of his own face and fed them to his dogs. Even though he was one of two to survive an attack by Lecter, he would forever be stuck on a life-support system.

Lecter's final and ninth victim before capture was Benjamin Raspail. Raspail was part of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra and a patient of Lecter's. His body would be discovered in a pew in Virginia with his thymus and pancreas removed. It is believed that Lecter served the organs at a dinner party for the Symphony Board of Directors. As Lecter would tell Clarice Starling, "His sessions were going nowhere. It was the best thing for him, really."

FBI Agent Will Graham would end up questioning Lecter about Raspail. During a visit to Lecter's office, Graham notices a set of textbooks, one of which is open to a picture of the Wound Man, an illustration commonly used in medical textbooks. The Wound Man is similar to a murder Lecter had done years earlier, but had remained unexplained. Before Graham could arrest Lecter, Lecter attacks him with a linolium knife. He is arrested by the Maryland State Police. Graham ends up spending months in the hospital before resigning from the FBI.

The courts find him insane and he is sent to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for nine life terms.

Lecter displays good behavior until June of 1976, when he complains of chest pains. During the check up, the staff removes his restraints. Lecter proceeds to attack a nurse, chewing out her tongue. Lecter's shoulder is dislocated in the struggle. From this day on, Lecter is handled by heavy restraints which includes being strapped in a straight-jacket to a hand-truck when outside of his cell and fitted with a hockey mask over his face.

Despite his infamous status, Lecter receives stacks of mail from those wanting to figure out how he works psychologically. Lecter allows the ocassional interview, but only because he likes to mentally toy with those that come to visit. He also likes to toy with Dr. Fredrick Chilton, the hospital director. Chilton would become Lecter's nemesis while at the hospital, and only keeps Lecter around in hopes of gaining his own fame. According to Lecter, Chilton doesn't have a medical degree.

The front of Lecter's cell is made up of the standard black bars. In front of this is a huge nylon rope. This set up is changed to just bullet-proof glass for better camera angles in the movies. The inside of his cell consists of a bed, a sink, a desk, a moderate library, and various drawings of buildings of Florence, Italy. Visitors are allowed to pass items to Lecter, as long as they don't include any sharp objects. Sometimes Lecter has items taken away from him, especially if he displeases Chilton. In Silence of the Lambs he gets Multiple Miggs to swallow his tongue after talking to him all night. For his punishment, Chilton takes away Lecter's drawings, library, toilet seat, and keeps a television on full volume to the "God Channel". According to Lecter, Chilton "enjoys his petty torments".

Lecter shows respect only to those that show respect to him, and this includes his caretaker, Barney. His motives for killing are largely unexplained until the book Hannibal, where it is revealed that Lecter likes to "eat the rude". "Disrespect is unspeakably ugly to me," Lecter tells Clarice Starling after Multiple Miggs throws semen at her. Later that night, he talks Miggs into swallowing his own tongue.

During his stay in the hospital, Lecter would help out with two cases. Will Graham came out of retirement in the early '80s to help out with the Red Dragon case. While at a dead end, he goes to Lecter for help. A few years later, Jack Crawford sends FBI Trainee Clarice Starling to Lecter. Starling thinks she's there for a class assignment, hoping to get Lecter to take a questionaire, but she ends up getting him to help her in the Buffalo Bill case. In both of these incidences, Lecter uses word play and subtle clues instead of saying anything outright. It is with his relationship with Clarice Starling that most of the books revolve around.

Buffalo Bill's (aka Jame Gumb] latest kidnapee is Catharine Martin, daughter of Sen. Ruth Martin. Lecter tells Chilton he will reveal the name of Buffalo Bill to Martin and is promptly flown to Memphis, Tennessee and is held at the Shelby County Courthouse. During his stay in Memphis, Lecter lies to Martin, giving her the fake name "Louis Friend". Starling visits Lecter at his makeshif cell. He gives her some final clues before making a bloody escape, killing two police officers during the ordeal.

Lecter would kill a few more times, in order to assume a new identity. After getting plastic sugery done, he moved to Florence, Italy under the name "Dr. Fell". As Dr. Fell, he took a job as a museum curator.

His identity would be discovered by Florence detective Rinaldo Pazzi ten years after his escape from Memphis. Pazzi struck a deal with Mason Verger to get Lecter alive so that Verger could torture Lecter himself using wild boars. Clarice Starling, now an FBI agent, would be tipped off too by Pazzi. After killing Pazzi, Lecter flies back to the United States. Both Verger and Starling would hunt Lecter, hoping to get to him before the other does. Lecter ends up being captured by Verger's men. Lecter escaped once again, but not before kidnapping Starling and convincing Margot Verger (Mason's sister) to kill her brother. Lecter left a voice message claiming responsibility for Mason's death.

Lecter kept Starling in hiding, brainwashing her during the next few months. Starling would end up being Lecter's lover after these months of brainwashing and conditioning by various drugs and techniques. Their whereabouts are unknown, although there would be an eyewitness account in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the books, Lecter has been described as short, with maroon colored eyes, even rows of small white teeth, and six fingers on one of his hands. He tends to be very still, yet very quick when required, and tilts his head to one side when listening. He has exellent hearing and smell.

References

• The Hannibal Library

Referenced By