Hannibal Lecter trilogy
Red Dragon (Manhunter) The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal

Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter is a fictional character appearing in four novels by author Thomas Harris and their film adaptations.

The novels in which the character of Lecter appears are Red Dragon (published in 1981, filmed in 1986 as Manhunter and in 2002 under its original title), The Silence of the Lambs (published in 1988, filmed in 1991), Hannibal (published in 1999, filmed in 2001) and Behind the Mask (to be published in 2005).

In Harris' novels and their film adaptations, Lecter is a brilliant, cultured psychiatrist and serial killer who practices cannibalism upon his victims.

Brian Cox was the first actor to play Lecter, taking the role in Manhunter. But it is Anthony Hopkins who most moviegoers recognize as Lecter. He first appeared in role in The Silence of the Lambs, winning the Academy Award for his performance. He also appeared as Lecter in Hannibal and Red Dragon.

In 2003 the American Film Institute named Lecter, as played by Hopkins, the number one film villain of all time.

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

Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania in 1938 to wealthy parents. His father was a count; his mother a descendent of the famous Visconti family of Milan. He had a younger sister named Mischa.

When Lecter was six a group of Nazis retreating from Russia shelled his family's estate, killing his parents and most of the servants. Lecter, his sister, and other local children were rounded up by the group of deserters to be used as sustenance during the cold Baltic winter. Mischa was killed and cannibalized, but young Lecter managed to escape. It is believed this event would shape the rest of Lecter's life.

Lecter established a psychiatric practice in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1970s. He became a leading figure in Baltimore society and indulged his extravagant tastes. To help finance these, he began influencing some of his patients to bequeath him large sums of money in their wills.

Lecter was caught in March or April of 1975 by FBI Special Agent Will Graham. Graham had been investigating a series of murders in the Baltimore area that were thought to be related. The films note that the press called this killer, in reality Lecter, "The Chesapeake Ripper." When Graham questioned Lecter at his psychiatric practice, he noticed some antique medical books in his office. Upon seeing these, Graham knew Lecter was the killer he sought. The sixth victim had been killed in his workshop and laced to a pegboard in a manner reminiscent of a Wound Man – an illustration used in many early medical books. Graham left to call the police, but while on the phone Lecter attacked him with a linoleum knife. Lecter was arrested.

Graham spent months recovering from his wounds, both physically and psychologically. A tabloid reporter, Freddy Lounds, humiliated Graham by photographing Graham's wounds and publishing them in the National Tattler. He did not return to the FBI.

Lecter killed at least nine people before his capture. He had three other known victims who survived, including Graham. One of these, Mason Verger, figures largely in the plot of Hannibal.

Only two of the nine victims are known by name in the books: Benjamin Raspail and Verger. Verger was the scion of a wealthy and influential family who controlled a meat-packing empire. Verger went through psychiatric counseling with Lecter after being convicted of child molestation. Lecter drugged Verger and suggested he try cutting off his face. Verger complied and, again at Lecter's suggestion, ate his own flesh. Lecter then broke Verger's neck and left him to die. Verger survived, but was forever condemned to a life-support machine.

Raspail was Lecter's ninth and final known victim before his incarceration. Raspail was a not-so-talented flautist with the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra . It is thought Lecter killed Raspail because his musicianship, or lack thereof, spoiled Lecter's enjoyment of the orchestra's concerts. His body would be discovered sitting in a church pew with its thymus and pancreas missing and his heart pierced. It is believed Lecter served these organs at a dinner party he held for the orchestra's board of directors. This character causes problems in the movies because in The Silence of the Lambs, the head in the garage is identified as Benjamin Raspail, Lecter admits that he didn't kill him, but in the other movies, there is evidence that he did actually kill Raspail. This is more problematic given the circumstances under which his body--or its remnants--were found. Inside his throat was the "Death's Head Moth," which was the calling card of Jame Gumb, AKA Buffalo Bill, thus indicating Gumb as the perpatrator.

The novels also mention a few details about Lecter's other victims. One, who initially survived, was taken to a private mental hospital in Denver, Colorado. Others were a bow hunter, a census taker (whom Lecter brags about killing but may not have) and a Princeton student who was buried by Lecter. Lecter was given sodium amytal by the FBI in the hopes of learning where he buried him; Lecter gave them a recipe for potato chip dip. His last three killings happened within nine days.

The courts found Lecter insane. Thus, he was spared prison and sent to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital (later the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane). Many of the families of his victims pursued lawsuits against Lecter to have their files destroyed. The FBI investigated four more paitents who had died under Lecter's care. His electrocardigrams showed a bizarre pattern and, given his history, was branded "a pure sociopath". He was nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal" in the National Tattler.

Lecter was a model patient until the afternoon of July 8, 1976. Upon complaining of chest pains he was taken to the infirmary where his restraints were removed. He attacked a nurse who was performing an EKG on him and tore out her tongue. His pulse never went above 85 bpm. During the struggle with the orderlies, his shoulder was dislocated. Following this incident, Lecter was treated very carefully by the hospital staff. He was often confined to heavy restraints, a straitjacket and muzzle, and he was transported by being laced to hand-truck. A new administrator, Dr Fredrick Chilton, was appointed. Chilton formed a hate-hate relationship with Lecter. Chilton often punished Lecter if he displeased him. Lecter's carer, Barney Jackson, came to respect Dr Lecter.

During his stay in the hospital, Lecter would help out with two cases. Will Graham came out of retirement in 1978 to help out with the Red Dragon case. While at a dead end, he went to Lecter for help. Lecter 'helped' by sending a coded message to Francis Dolarhyde to kill Will and his family. Five years later, Jack Crawford sent FBI trainee Clarice Starling to Lecter. Starling thought she was there for a class assignment, hoping to get Lecter to take a questionnaire, but she ended up getting him to help her in the Buffalo Bill case. In both of these instances, Lecter used word play and subtle clues so that Graham and Starling could figure it out themselves. It is with his relationship with Clarice Starling that most of the books revolve around.

Buffalo Bill's (a.k.a. Jame Gumb) latest kidnapee was Catharine Martin, daughter of Sen. Ruth Martin. Lecter told Chilton he would reveal the name of Buffalo Bill to Martin and was promptly flown to Memphis, Tennessee and was held at the Shelby County Courthouse. During his stay in Memphis, Lecter lied to Martin, giving her the fake name "Billy Rubin". (Bilirubin is a pigment found in feces, this is the same colour of Chilton's hair, Lecter's hint that the name was fake; the movie changed the name to "Louis Friend", an anagram for "iron sulfide" - fool's gold.) Starling then visited Lecter at his makeshift cell, and he gave her some final clues before making a bloody escape, killing two police officers during the ordeal. He escaped by making a 'mask' from the face of one of the officers and hid his body on the top of the elevator.

Lecter then killed two ambulance men and a man called Lloyd Wyman, assuming the man's identity. Dr. Chilton disappeared soon afterwards (presumed killed by Lecter). After getting plastic sugery done and after having his sixth finger removed, he moved to Florence under the name "Dr. Fell". As Dr. Fell, he took a job as a museum curator after murdering his predecessor.

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

Lecter kept Starling in hiding during the next few months. Starling would end up being Lecter's lover after brainwashing and conditioning by various drugs and techniques. He kidnapped Starling's nemesis, Paul Krendler, who was trying to discredit Starling. At Krendler's home, Lecter performed a lobotomy on Krendler and shared his brains while he was still alive. Their whereabouts are unknown, although his former caretaker Barney Jackson spotted him in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1993.

In the books, Lecter has been described as short, with maroon colored eyes, even rows of small white teeth, and six fingers on his left hand. He tends to be very still, yet very quick when required, and tilts his head to one side when listening. He has excellent hearing and smell. His number of murders totals 21, 14 confirmed by the FBI, and 4 attempted murders. It is unknown whether he killed Dr Chilton although he went missing soon after the escape. An Italian musician also vanished not long before Pazzi's murder.

References

• The Hannibal Lecter Studiolo http://hannibalstudiolo.com/
• Hannotations http://www.hannotations.com/
• Internet Movie Database: Manhunter (1986) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/
• Internet Movie Database: Red Dragon (2002) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289765/