Revision as of 15:24, 13 June 2007 editACE Spark (talk | contribs)139 editsm Isn't there five films? Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising... I don't know why it said 4 adaptions :p← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:46, 19 December 2024 edit undo2600:100a:b1c1:a670:4db2:8c1f:d1d5:abfa (talk) Finished restoring correct information. I’m sorry I didn’t notice that Treybien2 (the one user who always puts misinformation about this novel) had edited the article again.Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web editNext edit → | ||
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{{Short description|Character created by Thomas Harris}} | |||
{| class="infobox" style="width: 21em; font-size: 90%; text-align: left" | |||
{{About|the character|the franchise|Hannibal Lecter (franchise){{!}}''Hannibal Lecter'' (franchise)}} | |||
|- | |||
{{Redirect|Hannibal the Cannibal|the real-life serial killer given this nickname|Robert Maudsley}} | |||
! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | '']'' character | |||
{{Redirect|Dr. Lecter|the Action Bronson album|Dr. Lecter (album)}} | |||
|- | |||
{{Infobox character | |||
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | ] | |||
| series = ] | |||
|- | |||
| image = Hannibal Lecter in_Silence of the Lambs.jpg | |||
! colspan="2" style="text-align:center; font-size: larger; background-color: #001; color: #ffa;" |Hannibal Lecter | |||
| caption = ] as Lecter in 1991's '']'' | |||
|- | |||
| first = '']'' (1981) | |||
! Birth name | |||
| creator = ] | |||
| Hannibal Lecter (VIII) | |||
| portrayer = {{ubl|] ('']'')|] ('']'', '']'', '']'')|] ('']'')|Aaran Thomas (young; ''Hannibal Rising'')|] ('']'')}} | |||
|- | |||
| nickname = {{ubl|Hannibal the Cannibal|The Chesapeake Ripper}} | |||
! Titles | |||
| nationality = ] | |||
| Count Hannibal Lecter VIII<br>Hannibal Lecter M.D. | |||
| alias = {{ubl|Lloyd Wyman|Dr. Fell|Mr. Closter}} | |||
|- | |||
| gender = Male | |||
! Aliases | |||
| occupation = {{ubl|]|] (former)}} | |||
| Lloyd Wyman<br>"Dr. Fell" | |||
| family = {{ubl|Count Lecter (father)|Simonetta Lecter (] ]) (mother)|Mischa Lecter (younger sister)}} | |||
|- | |||
| title = {{ubl|Dr. Hannibal Lecter|] Hannibal Lecter VIII}} | |||
! Nickname | |||
| relatives = {{ubl|Count Robert Lecter (uncle)|Lady Murasaki (aunt-by-marriage)|Balthus (cousin)<ref>{{cite web |first=Eugen|last=Weber|title=Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-20-bk-48200-story.html |website=] |date=20 June 1999 |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>}} | |||
| "Hannibal the Cannibal" | |||
| significant_others = {{ubl|Lady Murasaki|Rachel DuBerry|] (novels)|Alana Bloom (TV series)|] (TV series)|] (TV series)<!-- Per discussion, "Will Graham" is presently to be included and further discussion is open. -->}} | |||
|- | |||
}} | |||
! Gender | |||
'''Dr. Hannibal Lecter''' is a character created by American novelist ]. Lecter is a brilliant, ] ] and former ]; after his incarceration, he is consulted by ] agents ] and ] to help them find other serial killers. | |||
| ] | |||
|- | |||
! Race | |||
| ] | |||
|- | |||
! Birth | |||
| ] (Actual)<br>] (Documented) | |||
|- | |||
! Ancestry | |||
| ] (Paternal)<br>] (Maternal) | |||
|- | |||
! Relatives | |||
| Count Lecter (Father)<br>Simonetta Sforza (Mother)<br>] (Sister)<br>Robert Lecter (Uncle)<br>] (Aunt and guardian) | |||
|- | |||
!] | |||
|], ] ], ] | |||
|- | |||
! Occupation(s) | |||
| Surgeon, Psychiatrist, Culinary Artist, Artist, Library Curator | |||
|- | |||
!Current status: | |||
| At large | |||
|- | |||
! Portrayed by: | |||
| '''''Manhunter'''''<br>]<br>'''''The Silence of the Lambs''''', '''''Hannibal''''', & '''''Red Dragon'''''<br>]<br>'''''Hannibal Rising'''''<br>], Aaron Thomas | |||
|} | |||
Lecter first appeared in a small role as a ] in Harris' 1981 ] novel '']'', which was adapted into the film ] (1986), with ] as Lecter (spelled "Lecktor"). Lecter had a larger role in '']'' (1988); the ] starred ] as Lecter, for which he won the ]. Hopkins reprised the role for the ] of the 1999 novel ''],'' which sees Lecter evading recapture, and for a ] in 2002. | |||
The fourth novel, '']'' (2006), explores Lecter's childhood and development into a serial killer. He was played in the ] by ]. In the ] television series '']'' (2013''–''2015), which focuses on Lecter's relationship with Graham, Lecter was played by ], who won the ] for his performance. | |||
Lecter (as portrayed by Hopkins) has been named by The ] to be the most memorable ] in film history.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.filmsite.org/afi100heroesvillb.html | title=AFI's 100 Heroes & Villains | date=June 2003 | work=American Film Institute | accessdate=2007-02-12 }}</ref> | |||
In 2003, Lecter, as portrayed by Hopkins, was named the ] by the ].<ref name="AFI's 100 Heroes & Villains">{{cite web | url= http://www.filmsite.org/afi100heroesvilla.html | title=AFI's 100 Heroes & Villains |date=June 2003 | work=American Film Institute | access-date=2007-02-12 }}</ref> In 2010, '']'' named him one of the 100 greatest characters of the preceding 20 years.<ref name="Vary">{{cite magazine |first=Adam B.|last=Vary|title=The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years: Here's our full list! |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/01/100-greatest-characters-of-last-20-years-full-list/ |magazine=] |date=June 1, 2010|access-date=July 7, 2012}}</ref> In 2019, Lecter, as portrayed by Mikkelsen, was named the 18th greatest villain in television history by '']''.<ref name="rollingstone.com">{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-lists/40-greatest-tv-villains-of-all-time-26500/hannibal-lecter-hannibal-24800/ | title=40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time | magazine=] | date=September 4, 2019 | access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref> | |||
==Character origin and development== | |||
Harris has never explained where he got inspiration for Hannibal Lecter, but in a documentary for ''Hannibal Rising'', Lecter's early murders were said by the filmmakers to be based on murders that Harris had covered when he was a crime scene reporter in the 1960s.<ref></ref> | |||
== Inspiration == | |||
In 1992, Harris also paid a visit to the ongoing trials of ], who was suspected of being the serial killer nicknamed the "]". Parts of the killer's ] were used as reference for the novel ''Hannibal''. | |||
Working as a journalist for '']'' magazine in the 1960s, ] traveled to Mexico to interview an American mental patient, Dykes Askew Simmons, who was being detained at Nuevo León State Prison in ] for three murders. While jailed, Simmons had been shot by a prison guard, once in each calf, and he was treated by a skilled "prison-doctor" whom Harris had referred to as "Dr. Salazar". Harris described him as a "small, lithe man with dark red hair" who "stood very still" with "a certain elegance about him"; their interview eventually took a dark turn, Harris said, when Salazar started talking about "the nature of torment". A prison guard later informed Harris that Salazar was, in fact, a convicted murderer who could "package his victim in a surprisingly small box".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Valdez|first=Maria G.|date=July 29, 2013|title=Thomas Harris, 'Silence Of The Lambs' Author, Reveals Hannibal Lecter Was Inspired By Real Life Mexican Doctor|url=https://www.latintimes.com/thomas-harris-silence-lambs-author-reveals-hannibal-lecter-was-inspired-real-life-129778|access-date=November 12, 2020|website=Latin Times|language=en}}</ref> Salazar inspired Harris to create a character with a "peculiar understanding of the criminal mind".<ref name=":0" /> | |||
] | |||
Salazar is believed to be Alfredo Ballí Treviño, the last criminal to be condemned to death in Mexico, in 1959.<ref name=":0" /> Ballí was a surgeon and physician from an upper-class family who had murdered his colleague and lover, Jesus Castillo Rangel. Ballí had held a towel soaked in chloroform over Rangel’s face, causing him to lose consciousness; Ballí then transferred the body to an adjacent bathroom where he slit Rangel’s throat and drained his body completely of blood before dismembering his corpse. Ballí is suspected of killing and dismembering several hitchhikers in the countryside during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Harris incorporated some of these details into ]'s development as a killer in ].<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Diego Enrique |last=Osorno|url=https://www.vice.com/es_mx/read/hannibal-lecter-es-de-monterrey |title=Hannibal Lecter es de Monterrey |magazine=] |language=es |date=July 29, 2013|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Umberto|last=Bacchi|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/495908/20130731/hannibal-lecter-gay-mexican-doctor-alfredo-ball.htm|title=Real Hannibal Lecter was Murderous Gay Mexican Doctor Alfredo Ballí Treviño|newspaper=]|date=July 31, 2013|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Maria G.|last=Valdez|url=http://www.latintimes.com/articles/6867/20130730/real-hannibal-lecter-gay-mexican-doctor-alfredo-balli-trevino-inspiration-thomas-harris-silence-lambs-25-anniversary.htm|title=Who Was The Real Hannibal Lecter?|newspaper=]|date=July 30, 2013|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref> | |||
In her book ''Evil Serial Killers'', ] asserts Lecter was inspired at least in part by the serial killer ].<ref>{{cite book|first=Charlotte|last=Grieg|title=Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters|publisher=Arcturus Publishing|location=London, England|date=2009|isbn=978-1841932897|page=27}}</ref> Greig also states that, to explain Lecter's pathology, Harris borrowed the possibly apocryphal story of serial killer and cannibal ]'s brother Stepan being kidnapped and eaten by starving neighbors.<ref>Grieg, pg. 102</ref> The location of the book '']'' was inspired by the ] and, while preparing the book, Harris traveled to ] and was present at the trial of the main suspect, ].<ref>{{cite web | first=Douglas | last=Preston | title=The Monster of Florence | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/07/the-monster-of-florence/304981/ | work=] | date=July–August 2006 | access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref> | |||
==Appearance== | |||
Hannibal Lecter is described in the novels as being small and sleek, and with wiry strength in his arms.<ref>''Silence of the Lambs'' p.16, para. 2: "She could see that he was small, sleek, and in his hands and arms she saw wiry strength like her own"</ref> In ''Red Dragon'' and ''Silence of the Lambs'', Lecter's left hand has the condition called mid ray duplication ], or his left hand has an extra ]<ref>''Silence of the Lambs'' p.15, para. 2: "Dr. Lecter has six fingers on his left hand".</ref>; a duplicated middle finger. In ''Hannibal'', he has since had his extra digit removed, while ''Hannibal Rising'' makes no mention of this physical abnormality. | |||
==Character== | |||
Lecter's eyes are shade of ], and reflect the light in "pinpoints of red".<ref>''Silence of the Lambs'' p.16, para 4: "Dr. Lecter's eyes are maroon, and they reflect the light in pinpoints of red"</ref> He is also said to have small white teeth<ref>''Silence of the Lambs'' p.17, para. 4: "He tapped his small white teeth against the card and breathed in it's smell".</ref> and dark hair. | |||
Hannibal Lecter is a child of ] and of the ] and ] families of ], and he is also a ] ]. He is highly intelligent and cultured, with refined tastes and impeccable manners. He is deeply offended by rudeness, and often kills people who exhibit bad manners; according to the novel ], he "prefers to eat the rude".<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Cath |date=October 13, 2017 |title=An old friend for dinner ... why we're not scared of Hannibal Lecter any more |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/13/an-old-friend-for-dinner-why-were-not-scared-of-hannibal-lecter-any-more |access-date=November 17, 2020 |work=] |location=London, England |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Hopkins described Lecter as the "] of killers", who kills "the terminally rude".<ref name="actor">{{cite news|last=Rose|authorlink=Charlie Rose|first=Charlie|date=30 January 2001|title=60 Minutes: Actors' Take On Ridley Scott|work=]|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actors-take-on-ridley-scott/|access-date=8 June 2007}}</ref> | |||
In the novel '']'', the protagonist, ], says that psychologists refer to Lecter as a ] "because they don't know what else to call him". Graham says "he has no remorse or guilt at all", and tortured animals as a child, but he does not exhibit any of the ] traditionally associated with sociopathy. Asked how he himself would describe Lecter, Graham responded, "he's a monster. I think of him as one of those pitiful things that are born in hospitals from time to time. They feed it, and keep it warm, but they don't put it on the machines and it dies. Lecter is the same way in his head, but he looks normal and nobody could tell."<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Harris|author-link=Thomas Harris|title=Red Dragon|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=67|quote=He's a monster. I think of him as one of those pitiful things that are born in hospitals from time to time. They feed it, and keep it warm, but they don't put it on the machines and it dies. Lecter is the same way in his head, but he looks normal and nobody could tell.}}</ref> | |||
==Fictional character biography== | |||
::''The following account of the character's biography is based strictly on the novel series. All date contradictions are purported to be by Lecter himself, with the dates in '''Hannibal Rising''' purporting to be the correct ones.'' | |||
In ], Lecter's keeper, Dr. ], claims that Lecter is a "pure sociopath" ("pure ]" in the film adaptation). In the film adaptation of ''The Silence of the Lambs'', protagonist ] says of Lecter, "They don't have a name for what he is". Lecter's pathology is explored in greater detail in ''Hannibal'' and '']'', which explains that he was ] as a child in ] in 1944 when he witnessed his beloved sister, Mischa, being murdered and cannibalized by a group of deserting ] ], one of whom claimed that Lecter unwittingly ate his sister as well. | |||
===Ancestry=== | |||
] in the film ''Hannibal Rising''.]] | |||
''Hannibal Rising'' reveals that Hannibal Lecter is the eighth generation descendant of the warlord "Hannibal the Grim" who defeated the ] at the ] (]). Lecter's mother, Madame Simonetta Sforza, is descended from both the ] and ] families who separately ruled ] for a total of 250 years. | |||
All media in which Lecter appears portray him as intellectually brilliant, cultured and sophisticated, with refined tastes in ], ] and ]. He is frequently depicted preparing gourmet meals from his victims' flesh, the most famous example being his admission that he once ate a census taker's ] "with some ]s and a nice ]" (a "big ]" in the novel). Prior to his capture and imprisonment, he was a member of ]'s social elite, and a sitting member of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra's Board of Directors. | |||
In ''Hannibal'', it is suggested that Lecter is also descended from Giuliano Bevisangue ("Bevisangue" means "Blood-Drinker"), a feared and ruthless figure in 12th-century ], and from the ] bloodline. In the book '']'', Lecter himself pursues this subject to determine from the records of the Capponi Library if there is any true connection to Bevisangue, but he is unable to answer the question. ''Hannibal'' also asserts that Lecter is a distant cousin of the artist ]. | |||
In the novel ''The Silence of the Lambs'', Lecter is described through Starling's eyes: "She could see that he was small, sleek; in his hands and arms she saw wiry strength like her own." The novel also reveals that Lecter's left hand has a rare condition called mid-ray duplication ], i.e. a duplicated middle finger.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Harris|author-link=Thomas Harris|title=Silence of the Lambs|url=https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0|url-access=registration|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=|isbn=9780312022822|quote=Dr. Lecter has six fingers on his left hand}}</ref> In ''Hannibal'', he performs plastic surgery on his own face on several occasions, and removes his extra digit. Lecter's eyes are a shade of maroon, and reflect the light in "pinpoints of red".<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Harris|author-link=Thomas Harris|title=Silence of the Lambs|url=https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0|url-access=registration|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=|isbn=9780312022822|quote=Dr. Lecter's eyes are maroon, and they reflect the light in pinpoints of red}}</ref> He has small white teeth<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Harris|author-link=Thomas Harris|title=Silence of the Lambs|url=https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0|url-access=registration|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=|isbn=9780312022822|quote=He tapped his small white teeth against the card and breathed in its smell}}</ref> and dark, slicked-back hair with a ]. He also has a keen sense of smell; in ''Red Dragon'', he immediately recognizes Will Graham by his brand of aftershave, and in ''The Silence of the Lambs'', he is able to identify through a plexiglass window with small holes the brand of perfume that Starling wore the day before. He has an ] with which he has constructed in his mind an elaborate "]" to relive memories and sensations in rich detail. | |||
===The Making of The Monster=== | |||
Lecter's childhood is first referenced in '']'', but is fully detailed in ''Hannibal Rising''. | |||
According to '']'', before ''The Silence of the Lambs'', films portrayed psychopathic killers as "claw-handed bogeymen with melty faces and rubber masks. By contrast, Lecter was highly intelligent with impeccable manners."<ref name=":2" /> ], the actor most closely identified with Lecter, said he played him as "ultra sane, very still ... He has such terrifying physical power, and he doesn't waste an ounce of energy. He's so contained. He's all brain."<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine|first=Meredith|last=Berkeman|title=Playing Hannibal Lecter|url=https://ew.com/article/1991/03/29/playing-hannibal-lecter/|date=March 29, 1991|access-date=November 17, 2020|magazine=]|language=EN}}</ref> His performance was inspired by ] from ]'s '']''. The critic ] elaborated on this comparison: "He is a dispassionate, brilliant machine, superb at logic, deficient in emotions."<ref>{{cite book|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=The Great Movies|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=2003|isbn=978-0767910385|page=418|quote=His approach to Lecter's personality, Hopkins says on his commentary track, was inspired by HAL 9000 in ''2001'': He is a dispassionate, brilliant machine, superb at logic, deficient in emotions.}}</ref> In the same essay, Ebert wrote:<blockquote> | |||
Hannibal Lecter is born on ], ], to a wealthy, ] ] family. | |||
One key to the film's appeal is that audiences ''like'' Hannibal Lecter...He may be a cannibal, but as a dinner party guest he would give value for money (if he didn't eat you). He does not bore, he likes to amuse, he has his standards, and he is the smartest person in the movie... He bears comparison, indeed, with such other movie monsters as ], ]... ] and ]. They have two things in common: They behave according to their natures, and they are misunderstood. Nothing that these monsters do is "evil" in any conventional moral sense, because they lack any moral sense. They are hard-wired to do what they do. They have no choice. In the areas where they do have choice, they try to do the right thing.<ref>Ebert, pg. 419</ref></blockquote> | |||
==Appearances== | |||
After the death of his parents in ], eight-year-old Hannibal and his younger sister ] are held against their will by a group of looters during the severe winter of 1944. Unable to find food, the looters resort to ], and choose Mischa to be consumed. Lecter is severely ]tized by his sister's death, and the incident haunts him for the rest of his life. This destroyed his faith in God, and shaped him into the "monster" that is later depicted in the series. | |||
===Novels=== | |||
Lecter, orphaned, lives in his former home which has been converted into an orphanage. Haunted by nightmares of his sister's death, he gets into violent altercations with the other orphans and cannot stop screaming at night, and so is forced to live in the cellar. He then escapes and flees to live in ] with his uncle, Sir Robert Lecter, and his aunt, ]. Lecter commits his first murder as a teenager, beheading a butcher who insults his aunt. Lady Murasaki fears Lecter will try to kill the men who murdered Mischa, and tries to dissuade him. Lecter will not listen, however, determined to avenge his sister. | |||
====''Red Dragon''==== | |||
In the backstory of the 1981 novel '']'', ] profiler ] interviews Lecter about one of his patients who was murdered by a serial killer, before intuiting that Lecter is the culprit; he sees the antique medical diagram "]" in Lecter's office, and remembers that the victim suffered the same injuries depicted in the drawing. Realizing that Graham is on to him, Lecter creeps up behind Graham and stabs him with a ], nearly disemboweling him. | |||
Graham survives, but is so traumatized by the incident that he takes early retirement from the FBI. Lecter is charged with a series of nine murders, but is found ]. He is institutionalized in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane under the care of Dr. ], a pompous, incompetent psychologist whom he despises, and who subjects him to a series of petty cruelties. | |||
Avenging Mischa grows into an obsession, and he relentlessly hunts the murderers; he then systematically butchers them all, cannibalizing their bodies. When he confronts the gang's ringleader, ], he learns to his horror that the men had fed him Mischa's remains in a broth. Lecter flies into a rage, carving the letter M into Grutas' body repeatedly. Upon seeing what Lecter has done, Lady Murasaki runs from him, later returning to Japan. With all his loved ones gone, Lecter leaves ] for the ], having earlier been accepted to ]. | |||
Some years later, Graham comes out of retirement and consults Lecter in order to catch another serial killer, ], known by the nickname "the Tooth Fairy". Through the ] of a ] called ''The National Tattler'', Lecter provides Dolarhyde with Graham's home address; Dolarhyde later uses this information to break into Graham's home, stab him in the face, and threaten his family before Graham's wife Molly shoots him dead. At the end of the novel, Lecter sends Graham a letter, saying that he hopes Graham "won't be very ugly". | |||
===The Chesapeake Ripper=== | |||
In the series' timeline, he next appears in ''Red Dragon'', having established a psychiatric practice in ], and become a celebrated figure in the city's most prominent social circles. Lecter had also worked as an emergency room physician in Baltimore. | |||
====''The Silence of the Lambs''==== | |||
Lecter kills nine more people in Baltimore, and is nicknamed "The Chesapeake Ripper". Two of his victims figure in later novels: ''Hannibal'' introduces ], a billionaire ] who survives Lecter's assault, but is left a hideously disfigured ]; and ''Silence of the Lambs'' introduces Benjamin Raspail, an untalented flautist whose lover, Jame Gumb, becomes the serial killer "]", the novel's secondary villain. | |||
In the 1988 sequel '']'', Lecter assists FBI agent-in-training ] in catching a serial killer, Jame Gumb, known by the nickname "]". Lecter is fascinated by Starling, and they form an unusual relationship in which he provides her with a ] of the killer and his '']'' in exchange for details about her unhappy childhood. | |||
Lecter had previously met Gumb, the former lover of his patient (and eventual victim) Benjamin Raspail. He does not reveal this information directly, instead giving Starling vague clues to help her figure it out for herself. In return for Lecter's assistance, the FBI and Chilton arrange for him to be transferred to a federal institution with better living conditions. | |||
Ironically, Lecter corresponds with ] Agent ] on the murders he himself commits. Graham consults Lecter one night, and suddenly realizes the doctor is the killer he seeks after seeing the antique medical diagram "]" in Lecter's office; Graham remembers that one of the victims was found in the exact position. When Graham attempts to call the police, Lecter stabs and nearly disembowels him. | |||
Lecter escapes while in transit, however, killing and mutilating his guards and using one of their faces as a mask to fool police and paramedics before killing the latter and escaping. While in hiding, he writes one letter to Starling wishing her well, a second to Barney (his primary orderly at the asylum), thanking him for his courteous treatment, and a third to Chilton, promising gruesome revenge; Chilton disappears soon afterward. | |||
Lecter is found ] and sentenced to nine consecutive ] in the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He is nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal" in the ''National Tattler'', a lurid tabloid that covers his trial. | |||
=== |
====''Hannibal''==== | ||
In the third novel, 1999's '']'', Lecter lives in a ] in ], ], and works as a ] ] under the alias "Dr. Fell". One of Lecter's two surviving victims, ]—a wealthy, ] ] whom Lecter had brutalized during a court-ordered therapy session, leaving him a horrifically disfigured ]—offers a huge reward for anyone who apprehends Lecter, whom he intends to feed to ]s specially bred for the purpose. | |||
] | |||
Lecter is a model patient for the first year of his incarceration, however it is revealed in the novel ''Red Dragon'' that he attacked a nurse, dislocating her jaw and eating her tongue and one of her eyes. During the assault, Lecter's pulse never rose above 85 ]. It is then mentioned again in ''Silence of the Lambs'' as a reminder to the audience. It is intended as to underscore the fact that Lecter feels neither remorse nor pleasure when he harms others. | |||
Verger enlists the help of Rinaldo Pazzi, a disgraced Italian police inspector, and Paul Krendler, a corrupt ] official and Starling's boss. Lecter kills Pazzi and returns to the United States to escape Verger's ]n henchmen, only to be captured. Starling follows them, intent on apprehending Lecter personally, and is injured in a gunfight with Verger's henchmen. Lecter escapes, thanks to Starling's help, and persuades Verger's younger sister Margot—his former patient, whom Verger had ] and ]d years earlier—to kill her brother, promising to take the blame. | |||
Because of his unusual ] patterns and history of violence, he is branded a "pure ]"; Graham mentions, however, that Lecter does not really fit ''any'' ], and so is labeled a sociopath for lack of a more appropriate term. Lecter refuses to submit to any standard psychological testing, folding questionnaires into ] and reciting a recipe for nacho dip under the influence of ]. | |||
Lecter rescues the wounded Starling and takes her to his rented house on the Chesapeake shore to treat her, subjecting her to a regimen of ]s in the course of therapy sessions to help her heal from her childhood trauma and her pent-up anger at the injustices of the world. He considers whether his long-dead younger sister Mischa may somehow be able to live again through Starling. One day, he invites her to a formal dinner where the guest and first course is Krendler, whose brain they consume together. On this night, Starling refuses to let her personality be subsumed, telling Lecter that Mischa's memory can live within him. She then offers him her breast, and they become lovers. | |||
''Red Dragon'' introduces Lecter's keepers in the asylum: administrator ], whom Lecter despises and considers his nemesis; and guard Barney Matthews, who treats Lecter with courtesy, and enjoys a mutual respect. | |||
Three years later, former orderly Barney, who had treated Lecter with respect while he was incarcerated in Baltimore, sees Lecter and Starling entering the ] opera house in ]. Fearing for his life, Barney leaves Buenos Aires immediately, never to return. The reader then learns that Lecter and Starling are living together in an "exquisite" ] mansion, where they employ servants and engage in activities such as learning new languages and dancing together and building their own respective ], and is told that "Sex is a splendid structure they add to every day", that the psychoactive drugs "have had no part in their lives for a long time", and that Lecter is "satisfied" with the fact that Mischa cannot return. | |||
In the novel, Graham briefly consults Lecter in an investigation of a serial killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy". Unknown to Graham, Lecter starts a correspondance with the killer, ], and gives him Graham's home address in code. As a result, Dolarhyde is killed and Graham is permanently disfigured. | |||
====''Hannibal Rising''==== | |||
In ''Silence of the Lambs'', Lecter assists FBI trainee ] in capturing "Buffalo Bill". In exchange for his help (given as vague, riddling clues) Lecter demands personal information about Starling's painful childhood. The two grow to respect each other, and it is implied that Lecter forms a romantic attachment to her. When "Multiple" Miggs, the prisoner in cell adjacent to Lecter's, throws his ] into her face, Lecter "finds this discourtesy unspeakably ugly" and punishes Miggs by manipulating him into committing ]. | |||
Harris wrote a 2006 prequel, '']'', after film producer ] (who owned the cinematic rights to the Lecter character) announced an intended film project depicting Lecter's childhood and development into a serial killer with or without Harris' help. Harris would also write the film's screenplay. | |||
The novel chronicles Lecter's early life, from his birth into a family of the ] in 1933, to being orphaned, along with his beloved younger sister Mischa, in 1944 when a ] ] bomber attacks a ] ] in front of their forest hideaway. Shortly thereafter, he and Mischa are captured by a band of ], who murder and cannibalize Mischa before her brother's eyes; Lecter later learns that the collaborators also fed him Mischa's remains. | |||
Toward the end of the investigation, Lecter gives Starling a final clue: "This man covets, and how do we begin to covet? We covet what we see everyday." This helps Starling deduce that the killer knew one of his victims personally, and uses this to find "Buffalo Bill" in time to save the woman he had kidnapped, killing him in the ensuing struggle. Lecter escapes, killing two guards, a staff of paramedics and a tourist whose identity he steals. He performs ] upon himself, and escapes to Europe, leaving Starling a note congratulating her on facing her personal demons. | |||
Irreparably traumatized, Lecter escapes from the deserters and wanders through the forest, dazed and unable to speak. He is found and taken back to his family's old castle, which had been converted into a Soviet ], where he is bullied by the other children and ] by the dean. | |||
===Winning Clarice=== | |||
Lecter next appears in ''Hannibal'', set seven years later, living in ], under the alias "Dr. Fell". There, he is the curator of the prestigious Capponi Library (having murdered the position's previous occupant). He reads in an American newspaper that Starling, now a full-fledged FBI agent, has been blamed for a botched drug raid and is in danger of losing her job. He sends her a hand-written note of encouragement, reigniting the manhunt. | |||
He is adopted by his uncle Robert and Robert's ] wife, Lady Murasaki, who nurses him back to health and teaches him to speak again. Robert dies shortly after adopting Lecter, who forms a close, pseudo-romantic relationship with Murasaki. During this time he also shows great intellectual aptitude, entering medical school at a young age and distinguishing himself. | |||
He learns that a corrupt detective named ] has informed Verger of his whereabouts. He kills Pazzi, and flees to the U.S. to ] Starling, albeit without homicidal intentions. He is kidnapped by Verger's men after Starling's corrupt boss, ], uses her as bait. Starling attempts to rescue Lecter from Verger's ] grasp, only to be wounded in the ensuing gunfight. Lecter rescues her and convinces Verger's sister ] — a former patient whom Mason had ]d — to kill her brother. | |||
Despite his seemingly comfortable life, Lecter is consumed by a savage obsession with avenging Mischa's death. He kills for the first time as a teenager, using a ] ] beheading a ] fishmonger who insulted Murasaki. He then methodically tracks down, ]s, and murders each of the men who had killed his sister. In the process of taking his revenge, he forsakes his relationship with Murasaki and seemingly loses all traces of his humanity. The novel ends with Lecter being accepted to ]. | |||
Over the next few months, Lecter holds Starling in captivity and uses a variety of mind-altering drugs and ] techniques to ] her personality and transform her into a surrogate for his sister Mischa. Starling's personality remains intact, however, and she mocks his attempts to break her spirit. She then offers Lecter her breasts, and the two become lovers. Lecter kidnaps and ] Krendler, and the two dine on his still-living brain. They then flee to ] to live in the lap of luxury. Barney Matthews glimpses them together while on vacation in ]. | |||
== |
===In film=== | ||
{{main|Hannibal Lecter (franchise)}} | |||
Lecter has been portrayed by four different actors in the films, but the most referenced actor is British actor Sir ], who portrayed the character in three of the five films. Hopkins's portrayal of the character in the ''Silence of the Lambs'' won him an Academy Award in 1992, even though his screentime in the film as Lecter only spans just under 17 minutes. It still stands as the shortest lead role to ever win an Academy Award. Hopkins claimed that he drew inspiration for his portrayal of Lecter from ], the villainous computer from ]'s '']''. <ref>http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silence_of_the_lambs/about.php</ref> | |||
] | |||
''Red Dragon'' was first adapted to film in 1986 as the ] film '']'', although the spelling of Lecter's name was changed to "'''Lecktor'''". He was played by actor ].<ref>{{cite interview |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccPeC-uRI2c |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ccPeC-uRI2c| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|last=Cox |first=Brian |subject-link=Brian Cox (actor) |interviewer=] |title=Brian Cox: Interview (Manhunter)|work=Wogan Now and Then |publisher=] |location=London, England |date=March 10, 2009 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Cox based his performance on Scottish serial killer ].<ref>{{cite journal|first=James|last=Mottram|title=Manhunter|journal=]|publisher=]|location=Bath, England|date=January 20, 2011|issue=177|pages=112–116}}</ref> | |||
In 1991, ] produced a ]-directed adaptation of '']'', in which Lecter was played by actor ]. Hopkins' Academy Award-winning performance made Lecter into a cultural icon. In 2001, '']'' was adapted to film, with Hopkins reprising his role. In the ], the ending is revised: Starling attempts to apprehend Lecter, who escapes after cutting off his own hand to free himself from her handcuffs. In 2002, ''Red Dragon'' was adapted again, this time ], with Hopkins again as Lecter and ] as ]. Hopkins wrote a screenplay for another sequel, ending with Starling killing Lecter.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ann|last=Oldenburg|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/2002-10-03-red-dragon-cover_x.htm|title=Marquee names serve up another helping of Hannibal|work=]|date=October 3, 2002|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In 2016, Hopkins said, "I made the mistake of doing two more and I should have only done one."<ref>{{Cite web|first=James|last=Hibberd|date=December 7, 2016|title='Westworld' Finale: Anthony Hopkins on Dr. Ford's Fate|url=https://ew.com/article/2016/12/07/westworld-anthony-hopkins-finale/|access-date=November 12, 2020|magazine=]|language=EN}}</ref> | |||
Hopkins was not the first actor to portray Lecter. ] portrayed Hannibal "Lecktor" in the 1986 film '']''. Cox said his characterization was inspired by ] serial killer ].<ref>http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/bio</ref> | |||
In late 2006, the novel '']'' was ], which portrayed Lecter's development into a serial killer. In the film, which was finished by 2007, eight-year-old Lecter is portrayed by Aaran Thomas, while ] portrays him as a young man. Both the novel and film, as well as Ulliel's performance as Lecter, received generally negative reviews.<ref>{{Rotten Tomatoes|qid=Q3114616|title=Hannibal Rising}}</ref> In an interview Hopkins stated that he was approached about a narrative role in the film but declined the offer. | |||
] portrays Lecter as a young man in the 2007 film '']''. Ulliel stated that he based his portrayal off of Hopkins' and mixed it with his own style. | |||
===In television=== | |||
Aaran Thomas portrays Lecter as a child in ''Hannibal Rising''. | |||
{{main|Hannibal (TV series)}} | |||
]]] | |||
In February 2012, ] gave a series order to ''Hannibal'', a television adaptation of ''Red Dragon'' to be written and executive-produced by ].<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Natalie|last=Abrams|url=http://www.tvguide.com/News/NBC-Hannibal-Notorious-Pilot-1043405.aspx|title=Pilot Season: NBC Orders Hannibal Straight to Series; Also Picks Up Notorious|magazine=]|date=February 14, 2012|access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref> ] plays Lecter,<ref>{{cite magazine|first=James|last=Hibberd|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2012/06/04/cast-hannibal|title=NBC casts Bond villain as Hannibal Lecter|magazine=]|publisher=]|location=New York City|date=June 4, 2012|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> opposite ] as Will Graham.<ref>{{cite web|first=Morgan|last=Jeffrey|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a372800/hannibal-lecter-tv-series-casts-hugh-dancy-as-will-graham.html|title=Hannibal Lecter TV series casts Hugh Dancy as Will Graham|website=]|publisher=]|location=London, England|date=March 23, 2012|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> In the TV series, which depicts Lecter prior to his capture, he consults with Graham to help him profile and catch serial killers. He is fascinated with Graham’s ability to empathize with psychopaths, and subtly manipulates his fragile sanity in an attempt to turn him into a killer himself. The series also portrays a love triangle between Lecter, Graham, and Dr. Alana Bloom, one of Lecter’s former students, and his ongoing battle of wits with Mason Verger. | |||
Fuller commented on Mikkelsen's version of Lecter: | |||
==Notes and references== | |||
{{reflist|2}} | |||
<blockquote>What I love about Mads' approach to the character is that, in our first meeting, he was adamant that he didn't want to do Hopkins or Cox. He talked about the character not so much as 'Hannibal Lecter the cannibal psychiatrist', but as ] – this ] who's enamoured with mankind and had an affinity for who we are as people, but was definitely not among us – he was ]. I thought that was a really cool, interesting approach, because I love science fiction and horror and – not that we'd ever do anything deliberately to suggest this – but having it subtextually play as him being ] felt like a really interesting kink to the series. It was slightly different than anything that's been done before and it also gives it a slightly more epic quality if you watch the show through the prism of, 'This is Satan at work, tempting someone with the apple of their psyche'. It appealed to all of those genre things that get me excited about any sort of entertainment.<ref>{{cite web|first=Morgan|last=Jeffery|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/ustv/interviews/a478343/bryan-fuller-hannibal-qa-lecter-is-like-satan-at-work.html|title=Bryan Fuller 'Hannibal' Q&A: 'Lecter is like Satan at work'|website=]|publisher=]|location=London, England|date=May 3, 2013|access-date=May 11, 2013}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
] later developed the television series '']'', based on the character Clarice Starling (from the novels and films) after her graduation from the FBI academy, as a sequel to '']'' set in 1993, starring Rebecca Breeds as Starling. The show does not acknowledge or feature Hannibal Lecter due to complicated rights issues of franchise characters between ] and the ]; it premiered in 2021. | |||
===In other media=== | |||
] has repeatedly mentioned Lecter at rallies during his ], referring to him as "The late, great Hannibal Lecter", and then speaking of him as if he were a real person. Trump at times associates migrants coming into the United States with the fictional character, saying that they are being let out of "insane asylums" similar to that in which Lecter was detained, and thereafter fleeing to America.<ref>{{Cite web | first=David |last=Mouriquand| date=July 19, 2024 |title=What is it with Donald Trump's obsession with Hannibal Lecter? |url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/07/19/what-is-it-with-donald-trumps-obsession-with-hannibal-lecter |access-date=July 20, 2024 |website=] |language=en}}</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
{{Portal|Novels}} | |||
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==References== | |||
{{Reflist|30em}} | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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*{{imdb title|id=0091474|title=Manhunter (1986)}} | |||
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*{{imdb title|id=0102926|title=The Silence of the Lambs (1991)}} | |||
*{{imdb title|id=0212985|title=Hannibal (2001)}} | |||
*{{imdb title|id=0289765|title=Red Dragon (2002)}} | |||
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Revision as of 20:46, 19 December 2024
Character created by Thomas Harris This article is about the character. For the franchise, see Hannibal Lecter (franchise). "Hannibal the Cannibal" redirects here. For the real-life serial killer given this nickname, see Robert Maudsley. "Dr. Lecter" redirects here. For the Action Bronson album, see Dr. Lecter (album). Fictional characterHannibal Lecter | |
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Hannibal Lecter character | |
Anthony Hopkins as Lecter in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs | |
First appearance | Red Dragon (1981) |
Created by | Thomas Harris |
Portrayed by |
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In-universe information | |
Alias |
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Nickname |
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Gender | Male |
Title |
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Occupation |
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Family | |
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Nationality | Lithuanian-American |
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a character created by American novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a brilliant, cannibalistic serial killer and former forensic psychiatrist; after his incarceration, he is consulted by FBI agents Will Graham and Clarice Starling to help them find other serial killers.
Lecter first appeared in a small role as a villain in Harris' 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon, which was adapted into the film Manhunter (1986), with Brian Cox as Lecter (spelled "Lecktor"). Lecter had a larger role in The Silence of the Lambs (1988); the 1991 film adaptation starred Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hopkins reprised the role for the 2001 adaptation of the 1999 novel Hannibal, which sees Lecter evading recapture, and for a second adaptation of Red Dragon in 2002.
The fourth novel, Hannibal Rising (2006), explores Lecter's childhood and development into a serial killer. He was played in the 2007 film adaptation by Gaspard Ulliel. In the NBC television series Hannibal (2013–2015), which focuses on Lecter's relationship with Graham, Lecter was played by Mads Mikkelsen, who won the Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television for his performance.
In 2003, Lecter, as portrayed by Hopkins, was named the greatest villain in American cinema by the American Film Institute. In 2010, Entertainment Weekly named him one of the 100 greatest characters of the preceding 20 years. In 2019, Lecter, as portrayed by Mikkelsen, was named the 18th greatest villain in television history by Rolling Stone.
Inspiration
Working as a journalist for Argosy magazine in the 1960s, Thomas Harris traveled to Mexico to interview an American mental patient, Dykes Askew Simmons, who was being detained at Nuevo León State Prison in Monterrey for three murders. While jailed, Simmons had been shot by a prison guard, once in each calf, and he was treated by a skilled "prison-doctor" whom Harris had referred to as "Dr. Salazar". Harris described him as a "small, lithe man with dark red hair" who "stood very still" with "a certain elegance about him"; their interview eventually took a dark turn, Harris said, when Salazar started talking about "the nature of torment". A prison guard later informed Harris that Salazar was, in fact, a convicted murderer who could "package his victim in a surprisingly small box". Salazar inspired Harris to create a character with a "peculiar understanding of the criminal mind".
Salazar is believed to be Alfredo Ballí Treviño, the last criminal to be condemned to death in Mexico, in 1959. Ballí was a surgeon and physician from an upper-class family who had murdered his colleague and lover, Jesus Castillo Rangel. Ballí had held a towel soaked in chloroform over Rangel’s face, causing him to lose consciousness; Ballí then transferred the body to an adjacent bathroom where he slit Rangel’s throat and drained his body completely of blood before dismembering his corpse. Ballí is suspected of killing and dismembering several hitchhikers in the countryside during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Harris incorporated some of these details into Buffalo Bill's development as a killer in The Silence of the Lambs.
In her book Evil Serial Killers, Charlotte Greig asserts Lecter was inspired at least in part by the serial killer Albert Fish. Greig also states that, to explain Lecter's pathology, Harris borrowed the possibly apocryphal story of serial killer and cannibal Andrei Chikatilo's brother Stepan being kidnapped and eaten by starving neighbors. The location of the book Hannibal was inspired by the Monster of Florence and, while preparing the book, Harris traveled to Italy and was present at the trial of the main suspect, Pietro Pacciani.
Character
Hannibal Lecter is a child of Lithuanian nobility and of the Visconti and Sforza families of Italy, and he is also a cannibalistic serial killer. He is highly intelligent and cultured, with refined tastes and impeccable manners. He is deeply offended by rudeness, and often kills people who exhibit bad manners; according to the novel Hannibal, he "prefers to eat the rude". Hopkins described Lecter as the "Robin Hood of killers", who kills "the terminally rude".
In the novel Red Dragon, the protagonist, Will Graham, says that psychologists refer to Lecter as a sociopath "because they don't know what else to call him". Graham says "he has no remorse or guilt at all", and tortured animals as a child, but he does not exhibit any of the other criteria traditionally associated with sociopathy. Asked how he himself would describe Lecter, Graham responded, "he's a monster. I think of him as one of those pitiful things that are born in hospitals from time to time. They feed it, and keep it warm, but they don't put it on the machines and it dies. Lecter is the same way in his head, but he looks normal and nobody could tell."
In The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter's keeper, Dr. Frederick Chilton, claims that Lecter is a "pure sociopath" ("pure psychopath" in the film adaptation). In the film adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, protagonist Clarice Starling says of Lecter, "They don't have a name for what he is". Lecter's pathology is explored in greater detail in Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, which explains that he was traumatized as a child in Lithuania in 1944 when he witnessed his beloved sister, Mischa, being murdered and cannibalized by a group of deserting Lithuanian Hilfswillige, one of whom claimed that Lecter unwittingly ate his sister as well.
All media in which Lecter appears portray him as intellectually brilliant, cultured and sophisticated, with refined tastes in art, music and cuisine. He is frequently depicted preparing gourmet meals from his victims' flesh, the most famous example being his admission that he once ate a census taker's liver "with some fava beans and a nice Chianti" (a "big Amarone" in the novel). Prior to his capture and imprisonment, he was a member of Baltimore, Maryland's social elite, and a sitting member of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra's Board of Directors.
In the novel The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter is described through Starling's eyes: "She could see that he was small, sleek; in his hands and arms she saw wiry strength like her own." The novel also reveals that Lecter's left hand has a rare condition called mid-ray duplication polydactyly, i.e. a duplicated middle finger. In Hannibal, he performs plastic surgery on his own face on several occasions, and removes his extra digit. Lecter's eyes are a shade of maroon, and reflect the light in "pinpoints of red". He has small white teeth and dark, slicked-back hair with a widow's peak. He also has a keen sense of smell; in Red Dragon, he immediately recognizes Will Graham by his brand of aftershave, and in The Silence of the Lambs, he is able to identify through a plexiglass window with small holes the brand of perfume that Starling wore the day before. He has an eidetic memory with which he has constructed in his mind an elaborate "memory palace" to relive memories and sensations in rich detail.
According to The Guardian, before The Silence of the Lambs, films portrayed psychopathic killers as "claw-handed bogeymen with melty faces and rubber masks. By contrast, Lecter was highly intelligent with impeccable manners." Anthony Hopkins, the actor most closely identified with Lecter, said he played him as "ultra sane, very still ... He has such terrifying physical power, and he doesn't waste an ounce of energy. He's so contained. He's all brain." His performance was inspired by HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The critic Roger Ebert elaborated on this comparison: "He is a dispassionate, brilliant machine, superb at logic, deficient in emotions." In the same essay, Ebert wrote:
One key to the film's appeal is that audiences like Hannibal Lecter...He may be a cannibal, but as a dinner party guest he would give value for money (if he didn't eat you). He does not bore, he likes to amuse, he has his standards, and he is the smartest person in the movie... He bears comparison, indeed, with such other movie monsters as Nosferatu, Frankenstein... King Kong and Norman Bates. They have two things in common: They behave according to their natures, and they are misunderstood. Nothing that these monsters do is "evil" in any conventional moral sense, because they lack any moral sense. They are hard-wired to do what they do. They have no choice. In the areas where they do have choice, they try to do the right thing.
Appearances
Novels
Red Dragon
In the backstory of the 1981 novel Red Dragon, FBI profiler Will Graham interviews Lecter about one of his patients who was murdered by a serial killer, before intuiting that Lecter is the culprit; he sees the antique medical diagram "Wound Man" in Lecter's office, and remembers that the victim suffered the same injuries depicted in the drawing. Realizing that Graham is on to him, Lecter creeps up behind Graham and stabs him with a linoleum knife, nearly disemboweling him.
Graham survives, but is so traumatized by the incident that he takes early retirement from the FBI. Lecter is charged with a series of nine murders, but is found not guilty by reason of insanity. He is institutionalized in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane under the care of Dr. Frederick Chilton, a pompous, incompetent psychologist whom he despises, and who subjects him to a series of petty cruelties.
Some years later, Graham comes out of retirement and consults Lecter in order to catch another serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde, known by the nickname "the Tooth Fairy". Through the classifieds of a tabloid called The National Tattler, Lecter provides Dolarhyde with Graham's home address; Dolarhyde later uses this information to break into Graham's home, stab him in the face, and threaten his family before Graham's wife Molly shoots him dead. At the end of the novel, Lecter sends Graham a letter, saying that he hopes Graham "won't be very ugly".
The Silence of the Lambs
In the 1988 sequel The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter assists FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling in catching a serial killer, Jame Gumb, known by the nickname "Buffalo Bill". Lecter is fascinated by Starling, and they form an unusual relationship in which he provides her with a profile of the killer and his modus operandi in exchange for details about her unhappy childhood.
Lecter had previously met Gumb, the former lover of his patient (and eventual victim) Benjamin Raspail. He does not reveal this information directly, instead giving Starling vague clues to help her figure it out for herself. In return for Lecter's assistance, the FBI and Chilton arrange for him to be transferred to a federal institution with better living conditions.
Lecter escapes while in transit, however, killing and mutilating his guards and using one of their faces as a mask to fool police and paramedics before killing the latter and escaping. While in hiding, he writes one letter to Starling wishing her well, a second to Barney (his primary orderly at the asylum), thanking him for his courteous treatment, and a third to Chilton, promising gruesome revenge; Chilton disappears soon afterward.
Hannibal
In the third novel, 1999's Hannibal, Lecter lives in a palazzo in Florence, Italy, and works as a museum curator under the alias "Dr. Fell". One of Lecter's two surviving victims, Mason Verger—a wealthy, sadistic pedophile whom Lecter had brutalized during a court-ordered therapy session, leaving him a horrifically disfigured quadriplegic—offers a huge reward for anyone who apprehends Lecter, whom he intends to feed to wild boars specially bred for the purpose.
Verger enlists the help of Rinaldo Pazzi, a disgraced Italian police inspector, and Paul Krendler, a corrupt Justice Department official and Starling's boss. Lecter kills Pazzi and returns to the United States to escape Verger's Sardinian henchmen, only to be captured. Starling follows them, intent on apprehending Lecter personally, and is injured in a gunfight with Verger's henchmen. Lecter escapes, thanks to Starling's help, and persuades Verger's younger sister Margot—his former patient, whom Verger had molested and raped years earlier—to kill her brother, promising to take the blame.
Lecter rescues the wounded Starling and takes her to his rented house on the Chesapeake shore to treat her, subjecting her to a regimen of psychoactive drugs in the course of therapy sessions to help her heal from her childhood trauma and her pent-up anger at the injustices of the world. He considers whether his long-dead younger sister Mischa may somehow be able to live again through Starling. One day, he invites her to a formal dinner where the guest and first course is Krendler, whose brain they consume together. On this night, Starling refuses to let her personality be subsumed, telling Lecter that Mischa's memory can live within him. She then offers him her breast, and they become lovers.
Three years later, former orderly Barney, who had treated Lecter with respect while he was incarcerated in Baltimore, sees Lecter and Starling entering the Teatro Colón opera house in Buenos Aires. Fearing for his life, Barney leaves Buenos Aires immediately, never to return. The reader then learns that Lecter and Starling are living together in an "exquisite" Beaux Arts mansion, where they employ servants and engage in activities such as learning new languages and dancing together and building their own respective memory palaces, and is told that "Sex is a splendid structure they add to every day", that the psychoactive drugs "have had no part in their lives for a long time", and that Lecter is "satisfied" with the fact that Mischa cannot return.
Hannibal Rising
Harris wrote a 2006 prequel, Hannibal Rising, after film producer Dino De Laurentiis (who owned the cinematic rights to the Lecter character) announced an intended film project depicting Lecter's childhood and development into a serial killer with or without Harris' help. Harris would also write the film's screenplay.
The novel chronicles Lecter's early life, from his birth into a family of the Lithuanian nobility in 1933, to being orphaned, along with his beloved younger sister Mischa, in 1944 when a Nazi Stuka bomber attacks a Soviet tank in front of their forest hideaway. Shortly thereafter, he and Mischa are captured by a band of Nazi collaborators, who murder and cannibalize Mischa before her brother's eyes; Lecter later learns that the collaborators also fed him Mischa's remains.
Irreparably traumatized, Lecter escapes from the deserters and wanders through the forest, dazed and unable to speak. He is found and taken back to his family's old castle, which had been converted into a Soviet orphanage, where he is bullied by the other children and abused by the dean.
He is adopted by his uncle Robert and Robert's Japanese wife, Lady Murasaki, who nurses him back to health and teaches him to speak again. Robert dies shortly after adopting Lecter, who forms a close, pseudo-romantic relationship with Murasaki. During this time he also shows great intellectual aptitude, entering medical school at a young age and distinguishing himself.
Despite his seemingly comfortable life, Lecter is consumed by a savage obsession with avenging Mischa's death. He kills for the first time as a teenager, using a katana sword beheading a racist fishmonger who insulted Murasaki. He then methodically tracks down, tortures, and murders each of the men who had killed his sister. In the process of taking his revenge, he forsakes his relationship with Murasaki and seemingly loses all traces of his humanity. The novel ends with Lecter being accepted to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In film
Main article: Hannibal Lecter (franchise)Red Dragon was first adapted to film in 1986 as the Michael Mann film Manhunter, although the spelling of Lecter's name was changed to "Lecktor". He was played by actor Brian Cox. Cox based his performance on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel.
In 1991, Orion Pictures produced a Jonathan Demme-directed adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, in which Lecter was played by actor Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins' Academy Award-winning performance made Lecter into a cultural icon. In 2001, Hannibal was adapted to film, with Hopkins reprising his role. In the film adaptation, the ending is revised: Starling attempts to apprehend Lecter, who escapes after cutting off his own hand to free himself from her handcuffs. In 2002, Red Dragon was adapted again, this time under its original title, with Hopkins again as Lecter and Edward Norton as Will Graham. Hopkins wrote a screenplay for another sequel, ending with Starling killing Lecter. In 2016, Hopkins said, "I made the mistake of doing two more and I should have only done one."
In late 2006, the novel Hannibal Rising was adapted into a film, which portrayed Lecter's development into a serial killer. In the film, which was finished by 2007, eight-year-old Lecter is portrayed by Aaran Thomas, while Gaspard Ulliel portrays him as a young man. Both the novel and film, as well as Ulliel's performance as Lecter, received generally negative reviews. In an interview Hopkins stated that he was approached about a narrative role in the film but declined the offer.
In television
Main article: Hannibal (TV series)In February 2012, NBC gave a series order to Hannibal, a television adaptation of Red Dragon to be written and executive-produced by Bryan Fuller. Mads Mikkelsen plays Lecter, opposite Hugh Dancy as Will Graham. In the TV series, which depicts Lecter prior to his capture, he consults with Graham to help him profile and catch serial killers. He is fascinated with Graham’s ability to empathize with psychopaths, and subtly manipulates his fragile sanity in an attempt to turn him into a killer himself. The series also portrays a love triangle between Lecter, Graham, and Dr. Alana Bloom, one of Lecter’s former students, and his ongoing battle of wits with Mason Verger.
Fuller commented on Mikkelsen's version of Lecter:
What I love about Mads' approach to the character is that, in our first meeting, he was adamant that he didn't want to do Hopkins or Cox. He talked about the character not so much as 'Hannibal Lecter the cannibal psychiatrist', but as Satan – this fallen angel who's enamoured with mankind and had an affinity for who we are as people, but was definitely not among us – he was other. I thought that was a really cool, interesting approach, because I love science fiction and horror and – not that we'd ever do anything deliberately to suggest this – but having it subtextually play as him being Lucifer felt like a really interesting kink to the series. It was slightly different than anything that's been done before and it also gives it a slightly more epic quality if you watch the show through the prism of, 'This is Satan at work, tempting someone with the apple of their psyche'. It appealed to all of those genre things that get me excited about any sort of entertainment.
CBS later developed the television series Clarice, based on the character Clarice Starling (from the novels and films) after her graduation from the FBI academy, as a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs set in 1993, starring Rebecca Breeds as Starling. The show does not acknowledge or feature Hannibal Lecter due to complicated rights issues of franchise characters between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the Dino de Laurentiis Company; it premiered in 2021.
In other media
Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned Lecter at rallies during his 2024 presidential campaign, referring to him as "The late, great Hannibal Lecter", and then speaking of him as if he were a real person. Trump at times associates migrants coming into the United States with the fictional character, saying that they are being let out of "insane asylums" similar to that in which Lecter was detained, and thereafter fleeing to America.
See also
References
- Weber, Eugen (20 June 1999). "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
- "AFI's 100 Heroes & Villains". American Film Institute. June 2003. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- Vary, Adam B. (June 1, 2010). "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years: Here's our full list!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
- "40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 4, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ Valdez, Maria G. (July 29, 2013). "Thomas Harris, 'Silence Of The Lambs' Author, Reveals Hannibal Lecter Was Inspired By Real Life Mexican Doctor". Latin Times. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- Osorno, Diego Enrique (July 29, 2013). "Hannibal Lecter es de Monterrey". VICE (in Spanish). Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- Bacchi, Umberto (July 31, 2013). "Real Hannibal Lecter was Murderous Gay Mexican Doctor Alfredo Ballí Treviño". International Business Times. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- Valdez, Maria G. (July 30, 2013). "Who Was The Real Hannibal Lecter?". Latin Times. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- Grieg, Charlotte (2009). Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters. London, England: Arcturus Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-1841932897.
- Grieg, pg. 102
- Preston, Douglas (July–August 2006). "The Monster of Florence". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
- ^ Clarke, Cath (October 13, 2017). "An old friend for dinner ... why we're not scared of Hannibal Lecter any more". The Guardian. London, England. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- Rose, Charlie (30 January 2001). "60 Minutes: Actors' Take On Ridley Scott". CBS News. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
- Harris, Thomas (1988). Red Dragon. New York City: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 67.
He's a monster. I think of him as one of those pitiful things that are born in hospitals from time to time. They feed it, and keep it warm, but they don't put it on the machines and it dies. Lecter is the same way in his head, but he looks normal and nobody could tell.
- Harris, Thomas (1988). Silence of the Lambs. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780312022822.
Dr. Lecter has six fingers on his left hand
- Harris, Thomas (1988). Silence of the Lambs. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780312022822.
Dr. Lecter's eyes are maroon, and they reflect the light in pinpoints of red
- Harris, Thomas (1988). Silence of the Lambs. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p. 17. ISBN 9780312022822.
He tapped his small white teeth against the card and breathed in its smell
- Berkeman, Meredith (March 29, 1991). "Playing Hannibal Lecter". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- Ebert, Roger (2003). The Great Movies. New York City: Broadway Books. p. 418. ISBN 978-0767910385.
His approach to Lecter's personality, Hopkins says on his commentary track, was inspired by HAL 9000 in 2001: He is a dispassionate, brilliant machine, superb at logic, deficient in emotions.
- Ebert, pg. 419
- Cox, Brian (March 10, 2009). "Brian Cox: Interview (Manhunter)". Wogan Now and Then (Interview). Interviewed by Terry Wogan. London, England: BBC. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
- Mottram, James (January 20, 2011). "Manhunter". Total Film (177). Bath, England: Future Publishing: 112–116.
- Oldenburg, Ann (October 3, 2002). "Marquee names serve up another helping of Hannibal". USA Today. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- Hibberd, James (December 7, 2016). "'Westworld' Finale: Anthony Hopkins on Dr. Ford's Fate". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- Hannibal Rising at Rotten Tomatoes
- Abrams, Natalie (February 14, 2012). "Pilot Season: NBC Orders Hannibal Straight to Series; Also Picks Up Notorious". TV Guide. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
- Hibberd, James (June 4, 2012). "NBC casts Bond villain as Hannibal Lecter". Entertainment Weekly. New York City: Meredith Corporation. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
- Jeffrey, Morgan (March 23, 2012). "Hannibal Lecter TV series casts Hugh Dancy as Will Graham". Digital Spy. London, England: Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
- Jeffery, Morgan (May 3, 2013). "Bryan Fuller 'Hannibal' Q&A: 'Lecter is like Satan at work'". Digital Spy. London, England: Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
- Mouriquand, David (July 19, 2024). "What is it with Donald Trump's obsession with Hannibal Lecter?". Euronews. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
External links
- Hannibal Lecter on IMDb
- NPR broadcast on Lecter
- Brian Cox interview about portraying Hannibal Lecter
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