Editing Hannibal Lecter

{{Short description|Character created by Thomas Harris}}
{{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}}
{{Redirect|Dr. Lecter|the Action Bronson album|Dr. Lecter (album)}}
{{Infobox character
| series             = [[Hannibal Lecter (franchise)|Hannibal Lecter]]
| image              = Hannibal Lecter in_Silence of the Lambs.jpg
| caption            = [[Anthony Hopkins]] as Lecter in 1991's ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs]]''
| first              = ''[[Red Dragon (novel)|Red Dragon]]'' (1981)
| creator            = [[Thomas Harris]]
| portrayer          = {{ubl|[[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]] (''[[Manhunter (film)|Manhunter]]'')|[[Anthony Hopkins]] (''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'', ''[[Hannibal (2001 film)|Hannibal]]'', ''[[Red Dragon (2002 film)|Red Dragon]]'')|[[Gaspard Ulliel]] (''[[Hannibal Rising (film)|Hannibal Rising]]'')|Aaran Thomas (young; ''Hannibal Rising'')|[[Mads Mikkelsen]] (''[[Hannibal (TV series)|Hannibal]]'')}}
| nickname           = {{ubl|Hannibal the Cannibal|The Chesapeake Ripper}}
| nationality        = [[Lithuanian Americans|Lithuanian-American]]
| alias              = {{ubl|Lloyd Wyman|Dr. Fell|Mr. Closter}}
| gender             = Male
| occupation         = {{ubl|[[Psychiatrist]]|[[Surgeon]] (former)}}
| family             = {{ubl|Count Lecter (father)|Simonetta Lecter ([[née#Maiden and married names|née]] [[Sforza]]) (mother)|Mischa Lecter (younger sister)}}
| title              = {{ubl|Dr. Hannibal Lecter|[[Count]] Hannibal Lecter VIII}}
| 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=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=20 June 1999 |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>}}
| significant_others = {{ubl|Lady Murasaki|Rachel DuBerry|[[Clarice Starling]] (novels)|Alana Bloom (TV series)|[[Will Graham (character)|Will Graham]] (TV series)|[[Bedelia Du Maurier]] (TV series)<!-- Per discussion, "Will Graham" is presently to be included and further discussion is open. -->}}
}}
'''Dr. Hannibal Lecter''' is a character created by American novelist [[Thomas Harris]]. Lecter is a [[human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] [[serial killer]] and former [[Forensic psychiatry|forensic psychiatrist]]; after his incarceration, he is consulted by [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents [[Will Graham (character)|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 (genre)|thriller]] novel ''[[Red Dragon (novel)|Red Dragon]]'', which was adapted into the film [[Manhunter (film)|''Manhunter'']] (1986), with [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]] as Lecter (spelled "Lecktor"). Lecter had a larger role in ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (novel)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'' (1988); the [[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|1991 film adaptation]] starred [[Anthony Hopkins]] as Lecter, for which he won the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]]. Hopkins reprised the role for the [[Hannibal (2001 film)|2001 adaptation]] of the 1999 novel ''[[Hannibal (Harris novel)|Hannibal]],'' which sees Lecter evading recapture, and for a [[Red Dragon (2002 film)|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 [[Hannibal Rising (film)|2007 film adaptation]] by [[Gaspard Ulliel]]. In the [[NBC]] television series ''[[Hannibal (TV 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 [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains|greatest villain in American cinema]] by the [[American Film Institute]].<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, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' 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=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |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 ''[[Rolling Stone]]''.<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=[[Rolling Stone]] | date=September 4, 2019 | access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref>

== Inspiration ==
Working as a journalist for ''[[Argosy (magazine)|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".<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" />
[[File:Doctor Balli.jpg|thumb|left|Doctor Alfredo Ballí Treviño, a convicted murderer, was the inspiration for Lecter.]]
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 [[Buffalo Bill (character)|Buffalo Bill]]'s development as a killer in [[The Silence of the Lambs (novel)|''The Silence of the Lambs'']].<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Diego Enrique |last=Osorno|url=https://www.vice.com/es/article/hannibal-lecter-es-de-monterrey/ |title=Hannibal Lecter es de Monterrey |magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|VICE]] |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=[[International Business Times]]|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=[[Latin Times]]|date=July 30, 2013|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref>

In her book ''Evil Serial Killers'', [[Charlotte Greig]] asserts Lecter was inspired at least in part by the serial killer [[Albert Fish]].<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 [[Andrei Chikatilo]]'s brother Stepan being kidnapped and eaten by starving neighbors.<ref>Grieg, pg. 102</ref> The location of the book ''[[Hannibal (Harris novel)|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]].<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=[[The Atlantic]] | date=July–August 2006 | access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref>

==Character==
Hannibal Lecter is a child of [[Lithuanian nobility]] and of the [[Visconti of Milan|Visconti]] and [[House of Sforza|Sforza]] families of [[Italy]], and he is also a [[Human cannibalism|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 (Harris novel)|''Hannibal'']], 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=[[The Guardian]] |location=London, England |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Hopkins described Lecter as the "[[Robin Hood]] 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=[[CBS News]]|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actors-take-on-ridley-scott/|access-date=8 June 2007}}</ref>

In the novel ''[[Red Dragon (novel)|Red Dragon]]'', the protagonist, [[Will Graham (character)|Will Graham]], says that psychologists refer to Lecter as a [[Antisocial personality disorder|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 [[Macdonald triad|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."<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Harris|author-link=Thomas Harris|title=Red Dragon|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]|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>

In [[The Silence of the Lambs (novel)|''The Silence of the Lambs'']], Lecter's keeper, Dr. [[Frederick Chilton]], claims that Lecter is a "pure sociopath" ("pure [[Psychopathy|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 [[Psychological trauma|traumatized]] as a child in [[Lithuania]] in 1944 when he witnessed his beloved sister, Mischa, being murdered and cannibalized by a group of deserting [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#Lithuania|Lithuanian]] [[Hiwi (volunteer)|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 bean]]s 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.<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=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0/page/15 15]|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=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0/page/16 16]|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=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York City|date=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/silenceoflambs00harr_0/page/17 17]|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 [[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."<ref name=":2" /> [[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."<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=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|language=EN}}</ref> His performance was inspired by [[HAL 9000]] from [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. The critic [[Roger Ebert]] 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=[[Broadway Books]]|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>
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's monster|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.<ref>Ebert, pg. 419</ref></blockquote>

==Appearances==

===Novels===
====''Red Dragon''====
In the backstory of the 1981 novel ''[[Red Dragon (novel)|Red Dragon]]'', [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] profiler [[Will Graham (character)|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 journalism|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 (novel)|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 (character)|Buffalo Bill]]". Lecter is fascinated by Starling, and they form an unusual relationship in which he provides her with a [[Offender profiling|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 (Harris novel)|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]]&mdash;a wealthy, [[Sadistic personality disorder|sadistic]] [[Pedophilia|pedophile]] whom Lecter had brutalized during a court-ordered therapy session, leaving him a horrifically disfigured [[quadriplegic]]&mdash;offers a huge reward for anyone who apprehends Lecter, whom he intends to feed to [[wild boar]]s specially bred for the purpose.

Verger enlists the help of Rinaldo Pazzi, a disgraced Italian police inspector, and Paul Krendler, a corrupt [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] official and Starling's boss. Lecter kills Pazzi and returns to the United States to escape Verger's [[Sardinia]]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&mdash;his former patient, whom Verger had [[Child molestation|molested]] and [[rape]]d years earlier&mdash;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 drug]]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.

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 architecture|Beaux Arts]] mansion, where they employ servants and engage in activities such as learning new languages and dancing together and building their own respective [[Method of loci|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 Union|Soviet]] [[tank]] in front of their forest hideaway. Shortly thereafter, he and Mischa are captured by a band of [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|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 [[Child abuse|abused]] by the dean.

He is adopted by his uncle Robert and Robert's [[Japanese people|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 [[Racism|racist]] fishmonger who insulted Murasaki. He then methodically tracks down, [[torture]]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 [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]].

===In film===
{{main|Hannibal Lecter (franchise)}}
[[File:Heyes.jpg|thumb|right|Hopkins as Lecter in ''The Silence of the Lambs''|225x225px]]
''Red Dragon'' was first adapted to film in 1986 as the [[Michael Mann]] film ''[[Manhunter (film)|Manhunter]]'', although the spelling of Lecter's name was changed to "'''Lecktor'''". He was played by actor [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]].<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=[[Terry Wogan]] |title=Brian Cox: Interview (Manhunter)|work=Wogan Now and Then |publisher=[[BBC]] |location=London, England |date=March 10, 2009 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Cox based his performance on Scottish serial killer [[Peter Manuel]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=James|last=Mottram|title=Manhunter|journal=[[Total Film]]|publisher=[[Future Publishing]]|location=Bath, England|date=January 20, 2011|issue=177|pages=112–116}}</ref>

In 1991, [[Orion Pictures]] produced a [[Jonathan Demme]]-directed adaptation of ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|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 (Harris novel)|Hannibal]]'' was adapted to film, with Hopkins reprising his role. In the [[Hannibal (2001 film)|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 [[Red Dragon (2002 film)|under its original title]], with Hopkins again as Lecter and [[Edward Norton]] as [[Will Graham (character)|Will Graham]]. 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=[[USA Today]]|date=October 3, 2002|access-date=April 19, 2013}}</ref> In 2016, Hopkins said, "I made the mistake of doing two more [Hannibal Lecter movies] 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=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|language=EN}}</ref>

In late 2006, the novel ''[[Hannibal Rising]]'' was [[Hannibal Rising (film)|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.<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.

===In television===
{{main|Hannibal (TV series)}}
[[File:Mads Mikkelsen Cannes 2013 2.jpg|thumb|Mikkelsen at the [[2013 Cannes Film Festival]]]]
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]].<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=[[TV Guide]]|date=February 14, 2012|access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref> [[Mads Mikkelsen]] 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=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Meredith Corporation]]|location=New York City|date=June 4, 2012|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> opposite [[Hugh Dancy]] 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=[[Digital Spy]]|publisher=[[Hearst Magazines UK]]|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:

<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 [[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 (philosophy)|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.<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=[[Digital Spy]]|publisher=[[Hearst Magazines UK]]|location=London, England|date=May 3, 2013|access-date=May 11, 2013}}</ref></blockquote>

[[CBS]] later developed the television series ''[[Clarice (TV 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 (film)|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|Dino de Laurentiis Company]]; it premiered in 2021.

===In other media===
[[Donald Trump]] repeatedly mentioned Lecter at rallies during his [[Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign|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 associated migrants coming into the United States with the fictional character, stating that they were 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=[[Euronews]] |language=en}}</ref> In April 2025, Trump claimed that Lecter helped him win the presidential election.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hartmann |first1=Margaret |title=Trump Praises Hannibal Lecter for Helping Him Win Reelection |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-praises-hannibal-lecter-for-helping-him-win-reelection.html |website=Intelligencer |access-date=14 April 2025 |language=en |date=9 April 2025}}</ref> Due to his references to Hannibal Lecter as being "late", which is widely considered to be an odd statement about a movie character who never actually lived in the first place, some people have theorized that Trump might believe that Hannibal Lecter was actually a real person.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heritage |first1=Stuart |title=Why is Donald Trump so obsessed with Hannibal Lecter? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/jul/25/donald-trump-hannibal-lecter |website=The Guardian |access-date=14 April 2025 |date=25 July 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Novels}}
* [[Bogeyman]]
* [[Cannibalism in popular culture]]
* [[List of horror film villains]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170810042226/http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0001399/ Hannibal Lecter] on [[IMDb]]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89472698 NPR broadcast on Lecter]
* [http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/18119/brian-cox-interview-manhunter-hannibal-the-cannibal-adaptation-michael-mann-and-brett-ratner Brian Cox interview about portraying Hannibal Lecter]

{{Hannibal}}
{{Authority control}}

<!--DO NOT include LGBT categories; there are no sources describing him as such, nor sources describing his feelings for Graham as ''explicitly'' romantic or sexual-->

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