Order of Hannibal Lecter Books - OrderOfBooks.com Home | Characters | Authors Order of Hannibal Lecter Books Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character created by American author Thomas Harris . Not only is Hannibal an antagonist in a series of horror/suspense novels, but each of the novels in the series has been adapted to at least one film. The most famous adaptation is the 1991 film adaptation of Silence of the Lambs, in which the character was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins (who won an Academy Award for the portrayal). Lecter is a psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The character is frequently listed among the greatest characters of all time. The Hannibal Lecter character made his debut in the novel Red Dragon, published in 1981. The most recent novel in the series was a prequel titled Hannibal Rising in 2005.

Below is a list of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter books in order of when they were originally published (as well as in chronological order): Publication Order of Hannibal Lecter Books Red Dragon An Amuse-Bouche on the Hannibal Lecter Franchise | Geek and Sundry An Amuse-Bouche on the Hannibal Lecter Franchise Posted by Holland Farkas on June 3, 2015 Share: Movies & TV Hannibal Lecter is one of the most well-known and well-established serial killers of all time — and he’s not even real. He’s a character originally created by author Thomas Harris in the early 1980’s, but within the past 30 years he’s grown into a mighty beast with not only a book franchise, but multiple films, and a highly popular television show going into its third season. Understandably, those going into the show with no prior knowledge of Hannibal Lecter may not want to know his history as to avoid spoilers. And although the show is taking a slightly different path from the books, it contains many of the same plot points and characters.

However, for those who want to do their research and learn more about the man behind the mask made out of human skin, here’s a brief intro post to the Hannibal Lecter franchise. Red Dragon (Book) (1981) Red Dragon is the first book in the series and our introduction to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Additionally, we are introduced to FBI agent Jack Crawford and the brilliant FBI profiler that just so happens to be his protégé, Will Graham. Crawford coaxes Graham out of his early retirement in order to help him track down a killer known as the Tooth Fairy a.k.a. The Red Dragon. Additionally, we’re introduced to the tabloid reporter Freddy Lounds, who was later changed to the female Freddie Lounds for the TV series. Manhunter (Film) (1986) Manhunter is a film adaptation of the Red Dragon novel. In this version, Will Graham is played by a super young looking William Petersen — best known as CSI‘s Gil Grissom — while Hannibal Lecktor (spelled differently in this film) is played by Brain Cox. The film was written and directed by Michael Mann.

This movie is mostly about Will Graham battling his inner demons while attempting to capture Francis Dolarhyde a.k.a the Tooth Fairy, though Hannibal Lector still makes a small, but important appearance. The Silence of the Lambs (Book) (1988) The Silence of the Lambs is the sequel to Red Dragon and continues to follow Hannibal Lecter’s fascinating life. Jack Crawford again cajoles one of his apprentices …only this time it’s the young trainee Clarice Starling. In the same way that Graham had to go to Lecter for help on The Tooth Fairy case, Crawford has Starling go to Lecter to help apprehend a new killer, Buffalo Bill. The Silence of the Lambs (Film) (1991) Clearly, this film is an adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs — and perhaps the most famous installment in the saga of Hannibal Lecter. Though Clarice Starling isn’t technically a character in NBC’s Hannibal, she does have some similarities to the character Miriam Lass. Miriam’s storyline in the television show also follows parts of Will Graham’s journey in the books.

The film is directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling. Additionally, it won 5 Oscars, which is impressive because it was only the second “horror” movie ever to be nominated in the Best Picture category. Hannibal (Book) (1999) This book is the third in the series and takes place 7 years after The Silence of the Lambs. Since the dealings of the past book, Lecter has fled to Florence, Italy and Starling’s career has taken a turn for the worse. In this book, we are introduced to the Verger siblings — Mason and Margot — who are introduced in the television series in Season 2. Hannibal (Film) (2001) Again, this is the film adaptation of Hannibal novel. In this version Clarice Starling is played by Julianne Moore instead of Jodie Foster and it is directed by Ridley Scott, but Lecter is still played by Hopkins. The film didn’t do nearly as well as The Silence of the Lambs, but it is still a great look into the mind of Hannibal Lecter.

Red Dragon (Film) (2002) This is the second film adaptation of Red Dragon — the first being the aforementioned Manhunter. It is the prequel to both The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, with Lecter’d portrayal being continued by Anthony Hopkins. However in this version, Will Graham is played by Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes plays The Tooth Fairy/The Red Dragon/Francis Dolarhyde. Dolarhyde has not yet appeared in the television series yet, but the promos — and a casting of Richard Armitage — allude to his arrival in mid Season 3. Hannibal Rising (Book) (2006) Hannibal Rising is, as of right now at least, the final book is Harris’ Hannibal series. It is a prequel to the three previous novels and follows Hannibal through his childhood in Lithuania during the second World War through his young adulthood in America. Hannibal Rising (Film) (2007) Similarity, Hannibal Rising is the most recent film in the Hannibal Lecter franchise. The screenplay was adapted by Harris himself and the movie was filmed in Prague.

In this young iteration of Hannibal, the serial killer is played by Gaspard Ulliel. Hannibal (TV series) (2013) Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal television series on NBC is the latest adaptation in the story of Hannibal the cannibal. It mostly focuses on the Red Dragon novel and the friendship/rivalry between Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) leading up to the latter’s arrest, but as the seasons progress, it is involving more material and backstory from the other books and movies. If you’re interested in learning more about what is happening in the television show Hannibal, I recommend reading Red Dragon or watching either Manhunter or Red Dragon going into Season 1 to learn about the Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham relationship. Additionally, I recommend reading/watching Hannibal going into Season 2 to learn about the Mason and Margot Verger storyline and what we can only assume will happen in Season 3 with Hannibal fleeing to Europe. Furthermore, the show goes into some storylines discussed in The Silence of the Lambs, so it wouldn’t hurt to read/watch that as well.

The television show is a different adaptation and thus not following the books to a T, however, familiarizing yourself with the franchise may help you to notice all of Fuller’s reference to Thomas Harris’ original works. What is your favorite piece of work in the Hannibal franchise? Let us know in the comments! BOOK REVIEW: Hannibal -- Long-awaited sequel disappoints - The Tech Written by Thomas Harris Delacorte Press, 1999, 484 pp., $27.95 It has been over a decade since The Silence of the Lambs was first published, but at last readers are allowed another peek into the world of Clarice Starling and Dr. Lecter in Thomas Harris’s new book Hannibal. While the novel is an entertaining page-turner, readers are likely to be turned off by the shockingly gruesome aspects of the story, as well as the disappointingly flat characters and unbelievable ending. The story picks up seven years after Dr. Hannibal Lecter helped FBI trainee Clarice Starling catch the notorious serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Lecter has since been living as a free man, having escaped from imprisonment at the height of the Buffalo Bill frenzy.

Starling has become a competent and efficient FBI agent, yet has somehow failed to rise in the ranks of the Bureau. Enter Mason Verger, Dr. Lecter’s sixth victim. His face horribly mangled and his body mostly paralyzed, Verger has spent years planning his revenge on the doctor by having him --get this -- devoured by a pack of flesh-eating pigs. The only problem is that Verger must first catch Hannibal, a feat the FBI has been unable to accomplish for seven years. Aside from the flesh-eating pigs, it appears that author Thomas Harris has set up his long-awaited sequel quite nicely. Indeed, the book has much to offer. Hannibal the Cannibal is one of the most interesting characters in recent fiction, and this book grants a delicious look into his life. Readers are given a tour of Dr. Lecter’s mind and a glimpse into his childhood. The novel shows how startlingly human Lecter is, while at the same time the book maintains his superhuman qualities. As always, Harris’s writing is well-researched, and full of vivid descriptions and tight action. The part of the novel taking place in Florence makes for especially good reading.

Florence’s Chief Investigator Rinaldo Pazzi believes he has found Dr. Lecter hiding in his city. In order to claim Mason Verger’s reward money, Pazzi must catch Lecter and return him alive, without arousing the suspicion of the local police. The section drips with detailed descriptions of artwork, architecture, and history of Florence as the reader follows Pazzi’s relentless pursuit of Lecter. In spite of its entertaining qualities, Hannibal is not without fault. Many have complained that the novel is unnecessarily graphic, and it is, in fact, much more gruesome than Harris’s other works. Mason Verger is a constant reminder of how macabre the novel is. A former patient of Dr. Lecter’s, Verger now sits useless in his bed after Hannibal gave him powerful hallucinatory drugs and then instructed him to cut off his own face with a glass shard. Harris throws in details of Verger’s lipless smile and single, lidless eye on numerous occasions for no reason other than to shock his readers. While the excessive reliance on shock tactics is unsatisfactory, Harris’s biggest shortcoming by far is in the characters he creates.

For the most part, there are clear-cut good guys and bad guys, and very few characters fall somewhere in between. Dr. Lecter, being the central character of the novel, is spared from this careless treatment, but the rest of the characters are not so fortunate. Clarice Starling sparkles only under the mental prodding of Hannibal. Otherwise, she is little more than an efficient FBI agent doing her duty for most of the novel and behaving inexplicably at the end of it. Paul Krendler, Starling’s supervisor, who spends the majority of his time doing anything to advance his career, is a truly flat character. With no redeeming qualities to speak of, Krendler is to Hannibal what Dr. Chilton was to Silence of the Lambs: the guy you have to hate. Aside from spending his free time thwarting Starling’s career because she rejected his sexual advances, Krendler proves to be a bully and a fool; his comments are always inappropriate. The most dissatisfying character of the book, however, is Hannibal’s lead villain Mason Verger. In addition to his horrific physical appearance, Verger proves to be even more appalling as the reader learns more about him.

While Harris provides many details about Verger, each new fact only serves to make readers despise him more. The man is simply too disgusting to be believable. Unlike Francis Dolarhyde, the serial killer from Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon, the reader never comes to identify with Verger. Dolarhyde’s actions are shown as a product of his painful childhood, and he proves to have the ability to change for the better. Verger, on the other hand, appears to have been born bad. He is inexplicably cruel from his youth, and his run-in with Dr. Lecter merely inconveniences his habit of abusing children. Ultimately, it is Dolarhyde’s complexity that makes Red Dragon good, and it is Verger’s lack of complexity that makes Hannibal fall flat. Sadly, Thomas Harris’s newest book is the worst of his three Hannibal Lecter novels. It makes for good, mindless summer reading, but fans of his earlier works are sure to be disappointed. In addition to the gratuitous gore and poor character development, I found the ending to be completely unbelievable. The book’s outcome required the characters to behave in an unbelievable manner.

If you can somehow overlook these faults, you may enjoy Hannibal, though I recommend picking up a copy of The Silence of the Lambs or, even better, Red Dragon instead. Only Vol. 119 Hannibal Lecter | Hannibal Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Lecter was born in Lithuania in 1933 to a wealthy aristocratic family; his father, simply known as Count Lecter , was a descendant of the warlord " Hannibal the Grim " (1365-1428) who defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald , in 1410, while his mother, Madame Simonetta Sforza-Lecter , descended from both the Visconti and Sforza families who separately ruled Milan for a total of 250 years. He is the eighth in his blood-line to bear his ancestor's forename. [2] Lecter may have also been descended from Giuliano Bevisangue ("Bevisangue" means "Blood-Drinker"), a feared and ruthless figure in 12th-century Tuscany , and from the Machiavelli bloodline.

Lecter himself would pursue this subject, to determine from the records of the Capponi Library if there was any true connection to Bevisangue, but he was unable to answer the question. Lecter was a distant cousin of the artist Balthus . [3] Childhood and Bereavement Edit When Lecter was six years old, he was introduced to his sister, Mischa , who was born in 1939. The two formed a strong, affectionate bond. When he was eight, his family left their estate to live in a lodge in the forest in order to escape Hitler 's Blitzkrieg . Three years later, his parents, tutor, and family retainers were killed by a German bomber attempting to disable a Soviet tank (decades later while flying between Europe and the United States, Hannibal dreamed of being six at the time of these events). [2] The lodge was invaded by a group of former Lithuanian collaborators turned looters. Lecter and Mischa were held captive by said looters. Mischa was cannibalized, but Lecter escaped, only to be severely traumatized by his sister's death and was rendered mute.

Mischa's death would haunt Lecter for the rest of his life; Hannibal explains that it destroyed his faith in God, and thereafter he believed that there was no real justice in the world. [2] After the looters fled, he wandered the forests until he was found by a tank crew. The soldiers cut the shackle from his neck, which had stripped away pieces of his skin, leaving a scar that would never truly heal. He was also carrying, at this time, his father's binoculars: the binoculars stayed with him for many years and featured again later. [2] The Soviets returned Lecter to his family's castle, which had been converted into an orphanage. The war had many lasting effects on the children, and many of them became bullies. While living there, he frequently attacked and severely wounded many of his fellow orphans, but only those who bullied, hurt or insulted others. Lecter called on his memories of the leader of the group of looters, Vladis Grutas , to inspire the anger necessary to hurt the bullies.

He was well-behaved around the younger orphans, often letting them tease him a little, letting them believe him to be a crazed deaf-mute, and giving them his treats that he rarely received. [2] Adoption and Revenge Edit When Lecter was 13 years old, his uncle (the new Count Robert Lecter ) brought him to his home in France. He formed a close relationship with his aunt, the Lady Murasaki , with whom he instantly fell in love. He was educated at home on his uncle's estate on the banks of the Essonne ; his uncle encouraged him to take up painting while his aunt taught him aspects of Japanese culture. Still mute and disturbed by his sister's death, he saw the psychiatrist, Doctor Rufin . At age 13, he attacked a local butcher, Paul Momund , in retaliation for an obscene insult to his aunt. Robert Lecter died from a heart attack during a further confrontation with Momund. An enraged Lecter then committed his first murder, slashing Momund with a Tanto that had belonged to his aunt's samurai ancestor, Date Masamune.

He then beheaded Momund and, after receiving a tip from his aunt's chef whilst they prepared a fish, sliced off his victim's cheeks and ate them, his first willful act of cannibalism. He then presented the decapitated head to Masamune. The murder brought Lecter to the attention of Inspector Pascal Popil , who intuitively grasped that he was guilty and pressed him to confess. Lecter proved impenetrable, however, even passing a lie detector test; thanks to Lady Murasaki's intervention, he escaped any blame. Following her husband's death, Lady Murasaki moved to a flat in Paris, where Lecter attended a boarding school. Popil, who was fascinated by both Lecter and Lady Murasaki, remained in close contact with them. [2] Lecter excelled at the Lycée and graduated early, becoming the youngest person admitted to a medical school in France, where he was mentored by a Doctor Dumas. He had been alerted to the survival of the Totenkopfs who had held him prisoner, when he found a painting looted from his father's collection for sale in a Paris gallery.

[2] In 1951, he returned to Lithuania and the scene of his sister's murder. He excavated the ruins of the lodge where his family died and, upon finding Mischa's remains, gave her a proper burial. He also unearthed the dog-tags of the group of deserters who had killed her. One member of the group, Enrikas Dortlich , now an officer in the Soviet Border Guards, arrived at the scene intent on killing Lecter. Lecter, however, was not caught off guard and instead murdered Dortlich. Once again, Lecter consumed his victim's cheeks. [2] Dortlich's murder put the group on alert and, due to the similarity of Lecter's first murder, placed him under renewed suspicion from Popil. Grutas dispatched a second member of the group, Zigmas Milko , to eliminate the problem by either bribing Lecter or killing him. Lecter killed Milko instead, drowning him in formaldehyde. Both Popil and Lady Murasaki try to dissuade him from hunting the gang. During a confrontation with Lady Murasaki, Lecter almost had sex with her, but relented at the last minute, claiming he had made a promise to Mischa.

He attacked Grutas in his home but Grutas was rescued by his bodyguards. Grutas kidnapped Lady Murasaki and used her as a lure to draw Lecter to his death. Lecter, donning the Tanto, tracked Grutas to his houseboat. In a final confrontation, Grutas claimed that Lecter too had consumed his sister in broth fed to him by the soldiers, and it was to keep this fact secret that he was killing them. Enraged, Lecter eviscerated him by repeatedly carving his sister's initial into his body. Lady Murasaki was disturbed by his behavior and fled from him even after he told her that he loved her. [2] Popil arrested Lecter for the murders, but there was little incentive for a trial; no evidence could be conclusively tied to him, and all the victims had been slavers and war criminals. His victims' association with the Nazis led Lecter to become something of a cause celebre in France, with communists and students marching for his release. Lady Murasaki visited him one last time while he was being held by the police, and saw that he had become completely emotionless.

After receiving references from Doctor Dumas and from the head of the Police Forensic Laboratory, for whom he has worked as a volunteer, Lecter was released. He left France, killing the final member of the group, Bronys Grentz , while on a vacation in Montreal, before returning to his internship in Baltimore. [2] Career as a psychiatrist Edit Lecter's drawings led to an internship at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, where he graduated with a degree in medicine and eventually settled. As written in Red Dragon, Lecter established a psychiatric practice in Baltimore in the 1970s. He became a leading figure in Baltimore society and indulged his extravagant tastes, which he financed by influencing some of his patients to bequeath him large sums of money in their wills. He became world-renowned as a brilliant clinical psychiatrist, but he had nothing but disdain for psychology; he would later say he didn't consider it a science, criticizing it as "puerile", and comment that most psychology departments were filled with "ham radio enthusiasts and other personality-deficient buffs". [4] Killing spree Edit Lecter killed at least nine people before his capture.

He also attempted to kill three others, including Will Graham , an FBI profiler, [4] and Mason Verger . Verger went through psychiatric counseling with Lecter as part of a court-order after being convicted of child molestation, and for viciously raping his own sister, Margot, who also went to Lecter for counseling. Verger invited Lecter to his home in Owings Mills one night after a session. Lecter drugged Verger and suggested he try cutting off his own face with a mirror shard. Verger complied and, again at Lecter's suggestion, fed some of his face to his Dobermans and ate his own nose. Lecter then broke Verger's neck with a rope used for auto-erotic asphyxiation and left him to die. Later, the dogs were taken to an animal shelter to have their stomachs pumped which led to the retrieval of Verger's nose, lips and parts of his forehead; however, the skin graft was unsuccessful. Verger survived, but was left hideously disfigured and forever confined to a life support machine. [3] Benjamin Raspail was Lecter's ninth and final (known) victim in the Chesapeake series before his incarceration.

Raspail was a not-so-talented flautist with the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra, and it is believed that Lecter killed him because his musicianship, or lack thereof, spoiled the orchestra's concerts; he was also a patient of Lecter's. Lecter would claim to Clarice Starling that the reason for Raspail's death was that Lecter "got sick and tired of his whining" during their appointments. Raspail's body would be discovered sitting in a church pew with his 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. The president of the board was later to have developed an alcohol problem and anorexia. Raspail was the former lover of Jame Gumb , who would later be involved in Lecter's life as the serial killer dubbed "Buffalo Bill". [5] Not much is known about his other victims or how they were killed. They can be presumed to have been mutilated and in most cases, eaten. In at least one case, he prepared his victim as an eloquent meal and shared his remains with the victim's fellow musicians.

Victims included a person who initially survived, and was taken to a private mental hospital in Denver, Colorado. Others included a bow hunter, a census taker whose liver he ate with "fava beans and a big Amarone", and a Princeton student whom he buried. Lecter was given sodium amytal by the FBI in the hopes of learning where he buried the student; but Lecter, instead of giving them the location of the buried student, gave them a recipe for potato chip dip, the implication being that the student was in the dip. He had trained himself previously by administering self-hypnosis in case he was ever administered hypnotic drugs. Lecter committed his last three known murders within a nine day span. [4] Since one officer retired after seeing Lecter's basement, it can be presumed that parts of his victims were stored there. Capture Edit Lecter was caught in March or April 1975 by FBI Special Investigator Will Graham. Graham was investigating a series of murders in the Baltimore area committed by a cannibalistic serial killer, and had sought Lecter out after discovering he'd treated one of the victims for a hunting wound.

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 Wound Man , an illustration used in many early medical books. Graham realized that the hunting wound that led him to Lecter was similar to one in the illustration which inspired Lecter to further emulate the illustration. Graham left to call the police, but Lecter crept up from behind and stabbed him with a linoleum knife, nearly disemboweling him. However, Graham managed to survive the encounter, while Lecter was then apprehended by FBI agents and Maryland State Troopers. After Lecter's arrest, Graham was briefly committed to a mental institution and retired upon recovering from his wounds. [4] Ironically, the sixth victim that exposed Lecter was not eaten. The courts found Lecter insane; this spared him the death penalty. He was instead sent to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane for nine consecutive life terms, under administrator Frederick Chilton . Many of the families of his victims pursued lawsuits against Lecter to have their files destroyed.

The FBI exhumed the graves of four patients who had died under Lecter's care for further investigation into the cause of their deaths. He was nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal" in the National Tattler, a tabloid that also published unauthorized photos of Graham in the hospital after being attacked by Lecter. Another officer retired from the FBI after being the first to discover Lecter's basement. Lecter's electroencephalogram (EEG) showed an unusual pattern and, given his history, was ultimately branded "a pure sociopath" by Chilton, although this was because they did not know what to call him. Many in the field of psychiatry labeled him a "monster". The National Tattler described Lecter's crimes as "unspeakable practices". [5] Incarceration Edit Lecter, while in custody, was said to be "far too sophisticated" for most forms of psychological evaluation, especially as he enjoyed staying abreast of all of the latest developments in his field. Since he knew how the tests worked, he could easily come up with the typical answers that would brand him as not being psychologically disturbed, and he also mocked the psychiatrists' attempts to profile him by folding their tests into origami.

[5] Lecter was a model patient until the afternoon of July 8, 1976. After complaining of chest pains, he was taken to the infirmary. After his restraints were removed for his electrocardiogram (ECG) he attacked a nurse, tearing out an eye, dislocating her jaw, and biting out her tongue and eating it. Chilton would later note that Lecter's pulse never went above 85 beats per minute "even when he swallowed [her tongue]." During the struggle with the orderlies, his shoulder was dislocated. Following the incident, Lecter was treated very carefully by the hospital staff, often outfitted with heavy restraints, a straitjacket and muzzle, and transported only when strapped to a hand-truck. His cell consisted of a double barrier, the first being standard bars and the second a nylon net stretched across. Despite this high security measures, Lecter managed to create a handcuff key from two pens left in his cell by visitors.

[5] Chilton and Lecter's relationship was marked by mutual hatred; Chilton's status as a psychologist, his mediocrity and inflated self-importance offended Lecter, who often humiliated his keeper; while Lecter's constant mockery and elusiveness infuriated Chilton, who punished him by removing his books and toilet seat. At the end of Red Dragon, Lecter diagnosed this form of punishment as indicative of the damnation of society by half-measures: "Any rational society would kill me, or give me my books." By contrast, Lecter reached a mutual respect with his primary caregiver and warden, Barney Matthews , and the two often shared thoughts over Barney's correspondence courses. During the investigation of Buffalo Bill, the two would also discuss Clarice Starling. It is also implied at the end of the novel and of the film adaptation that Lecter seeks revenge on Chilton for the mistreatment that he endured at Chesapeake. [5] During his stay in Baltimore State Hospital, Lecter would help with two FBI cases.

Graham came out of retirement in 1978 to offer his insight on the "Tooth Fairy" case and upon arriving at a dead end, went to Lecter for help,, but before Graham went into retirement. Lecter gave Graham some valuable insights into the Tooth Fairy, but upon learning about the case, secretly sent a coded message to the killer, Francis Dolarhyde, to kill Graham and his family (which would later result in Graham's permanent disfigurement). [4] Escape Edit Five years later, Jack Crawford sent FBI trainee Clarice Starling to Lecter to administer a psychological questionnaire. Starling, initially assuming the assignment was related to her studies, ended up getting him to help the FBI in the Buffalo Bill case. In both of these cases, Lecter used wordplay and subtle clues to help Graham and Starling arrive at the conclusions themselves. [5] Buffalo Bill's last kidnappee was Catherine Martin , daughter of Senator Ruth Martin . Lecter told Chilton he would reveal Buffalo Bill's real name to Martin and was promptly flown to Memphis, Tennessee, and held at the Shelby County Courthouse.

During his stay in Memphis, Lecter lied to Martin, giving her the fake name "William Rubin," or "Billy Rubin". (Bilirubin is a pigment found in feces. It is the same color as Chilton's hair, Lecter's hint that the name was fake. The film adaptation 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, donning the officer's uniform and pretending to be his own still-living victim so that he would be hurried away by ambulance while the authorities hunted for him. [5] He also murdered two paramedics and a touirst, stealing the latter's clothes and identity. Life on the Run Edit After plastic surgery and the removal of a distinctive sixth finger, Lecter relocated in Florence, Italy. Lecter avoided reconstruction of his nose to protect his uncanny perception of fragrances. In Florence, he took the pseudonym "Dr.

Fell," possibly a reference to the Tom Brown translation of Martial's epigram "Non amo te, Sabidi" ("I do not love thee, Doctor Fell / The reason why, I cannot tell." Fell also means "cruel" or "fierce") As Dr. Fell, Lecter's dazzling charm and expertise won him the recently vacated position of museum curator; Lecter had, of course, murdered the position's previous occupant. [5] Lecter's identity would be discovered by Florence detective Rinaldo Pazzi seven years after his escape from Memphis. Lecter had been going by the false name Dr. Fell and Pazzi, who had been disgraced when he bungled the " Il Mostro " case, saw a chance for redemption when he realized Dr. Fell's true identity. Pazzi struck a deal with Lecter's sole surviving victim, Mason Verger to get the doctor alive so that Verger could exact his revenge by feeding Lecter to a group of specially trained boars. In his efforts to capture Lecter, Pazzi found himself the doctor's prisoner, and he informed Lecter of his plot.

After disemboweling and hanging Pazzi, Lecter returned to the United States. Both Verger and Starling would hunt him, hoping to get to him before the other. Lecter was captured by Verger's men, but Starling rescued him. In the ensuing fight, Verger's men shot her with two darts filled with sedatives. Lecter carried her away from the boars and convinced Margot Verger to kill her brother. Lecter left a voice message claiming responsibility for Verger's death. [5] Lecter kept Starling in total isolation during the next few months, subjecting her to various conditioning techniques in order to systematically replace Starling's memories and personality and make her believe she was Mischa. After breaking Starling down, Lecter kidnapped her nemesis, Paul Krendler, who was trying to discredit her, as a final test. At the rented home that Lecter was living in, Lecter performed a craniotomy on a drugged Krendler and tastefully prepared and shared his brains with Starling and Krendler himself while Krendler was still alive.

[5] However, Lecter's plan to brainwash Starling ultimately failed, as he utterly underestimated her strong will; Starling refused to have her own personality sublimated, mocking his efforts to turn her into his sister. Then, she exposed her breast to Lecter and seduced him. [5] The couple then vanished. In 1993, Lecter's former caretaker, Barney Matthews, spotted the two in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is stated on the last page of the novel that both Lecter and Starling were capable of murder at any time; in essence, whatever of Lecter's conditioning took created a "counterpart" of himself in Starling. [5] Characteristics Edit The relatively short relationship between Graham and Lecter is marked by mutual hatred. By the end of Red Dragon, Lecter is directly responsible for ruining Graham's life twice - nearly causing the deaths of Graham's wife and stepson as well. Prior to Red Dragon, Graham had only met Lecter twice, both times very briefly, for Graham to ask Lecter routine questions; however, during their second meeting, Graham realized that Lecter was the killer he'd been seeking.

When Graham left to call in reinforcements, Lecter snuck up behind Graham, gutted him, and escaped for a brief period before authorities ultimately caught him. This was only the first time that Lecter would cause Graham's hospitalization; the second time would be by proxy, through Francis Dolarhyde. After his life was ruined for the second time, Graham sank into an alcoholic depression in Florida. Eventually Jack Crawford and the others at the FBI, along with everyone else, stopped visiting because they saw that Will was killing himself and there was nothing they could do - it was too hard on them to see this empty shell of what Graham used to be. Clarice Starling Edit While Graham was the protagonist of Red Dragon only, Clarice Starling is the protagonist of both The Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal. Starling and Lecter's very long romance began with Starling's assignment from Jack Crawford to interview Dr.

Hannibal Lecter - to quote Thomas Harris himself, " "How seldom we recognize the sound when the bolt of our fate slides home." Lecter has been in love with Starling ever since this first meeting, although he tried very hard to hide his obsession from her, as he didn't want Starling to know the power she had over him. Lecter was frightened and frustrated by the fact that he'd fallen in love with this "trainee", and tried to send her away; ultimately though, Lecter found that he wanted to help her. Starling succeeded against all expectations, and was promoted to the status of full FBI agent because of her killing of Jame Gumb, who Lecter helped her to find. Even after Lecter's bloody escape, Starling somehow instinctually knew that he would never hurt her. A few weeks later Lecter sent Starling a letter confirming that she had nothing to fear from him. Truly, Lecter would never be able to bring himself to harm Starling, and he would only enter her life again years later when he saw she needed his help.

Lecter's letter ended with the phrase "Some of our stars are the same." This bears a certainly resemblance to the famous letter written by one of the men who tried to scale Everest to his wife, which said "Goodnight and great love to you. We see the same stars." This appears to be another roundabout way of Lecter's to tell Clarice that he loves her, similar to how, in Memphis, he told her "People will say we're in love," as though he couldn't quite bring himself to say the actual words. As we learn more about Lecter's past in Hannibal Rising, it appears that Lecter's reluctance to say the words "I love you" stems from his aunt's rejection of him the two times he told her "I love you." Nearly seven years after their physical parting in Memphis, Starling - whose career has not been nearly as successful as her bright start would have indicated - has been suspended from the FBI, and is about to be kicked out entirely.

Suddenly she receives a letter from Lecter, from which she finds encouragement and because of which the FBI is forced to allow Starling to not only stay in the FBI, but to allow her into Behavioral Science, the place she'd always wanted to be, as this is the first trace of Lecter they'd had in nearly seven years. Starling is hunting Lecter for the FBI (or so she wants to think; but we're told by Harris that "The truth was more complicated than that.") but Lecter is also being hunted by his former "victim", Mason Verger, who intends to torture and kill Lecter. The ensuing manhunt comes to a head when Verger's men capture Lecter as he is leaving a birthday gift for Starling. When Clarice tries to tell her "superiors" that Hannibal Lecter was just kidnapped by Verger's people, they don't believe her. Back at home, Starling remembers the encouraging things Lecter had said to her, and then she thinks about Mason torturing him to death. She can't help seeing Lecter as a lamb who needs to be saved. So Starling goes on her own to rescue Lecter.

In the ensuing fight at the Verger farm, Starling enters the barn where Lecter is tied up - ready to be fed to the pigs waiting at the gate. Starling shoots and kills what she thinks are all of the Sardinians in Mason's employ, then proceeds to work on freeing Lecter from his restraints. However, one of the Sardinians is still alive and shoots at Starling with the tranquilizer gun meant for the pigs. Lecter warns Starling about the other Sardinian in time for her to whip around and shoot him, but his tranquilizer still catches her. By this time the pigs have managed to get into the barn themselves, but Lecter finishes freeing himself in time to lift Starling into his arms and carry her to safety. Lecter and Starling spend a few weeks together at a house on the Chesapeake where he cooks for her, plays the harpsichord for her, and closely monitors her recovery - her physical recovery from the effects of the two tranquilizer darts she was hit with, and her psychological "recovery" from the death of her father, as she never really let herself accept and grieve his death.

Lecter also tells Starling about his sister Mischa during this time. After Lecter makes dinner one night for himself and Starling partially from her nemesis, Paul Krendler, Starling and Lecter are sitting together in the drawing room, talking about "teacups and time". Lecter finally tells Starling his desperate hope to bring Mischa back to life. Starling sympathizes with him, but she also puts him in his place, pointing out to Lecter that they've spent the last few weeks together finding the solution to her acceptance of her own father's death. Starling tells Lecter that if, as he himself told her, there is room within Starling for her father's memory, then there must also be room within Lecter for his sister's memory. Lecter is eagerly ready to accept this solution. Then Starling experiences an epiphany of sorts, and realizes what Lecter really needs/wants. She reaches into the neckline of her dress and frees her breast, meeting Lecter's eyes the whole time. At her invitation, he swiftly comes to kneel on his knees in front of her chair and takes her breast into his mouth. They become lovers and disappear together.

The next time we see "our couple" - as Thomas Harris calls them - is three years later, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Barney, the former orderly, and his new girlfriend Lillian Hersh encounter Lecter and Starling at the Teatro Colon opera house. Barney sees Lecter and Starling completely absorbed in each other, and it is unknown if they were aware of his presence or not. Barney is able to convince Lillian to leave with him immediately without telling her why, and, presumably, Barney never told anyone about this encounter. We're then given a glimpse into Lecter and Starling's home life: They live together in a wonderful Beaux-arts building near the French embassy in Buenos Aires; the servants in their household have a high morale, but there is an iron discipline among them; Lecter and Starling often speak at dinnertime in languages other than Starling's native English, especially Italian, as she finds a curious freedom in the visual nuances of the language; They often dance at dinnertime, too. We're told that "Sex is a splendid structure they add to every day." So, they have a very active and healthy sex life together as well.

We're told that Clarice has a memory palace of her own, and that it is filled with pleasant things: her father; the horse, Hannah, that she had as a child; and even Jack Crawford, "when she chooses to see him." We're told that Clarice and Hannibal's memory palaces have many rooms in common, although hers grows on its own. The novel, and the series, closes with Harris telling us that we must leave, while Hannibal and Clarice are dancing together on the terrace, as "the wise Barney has already left town, and we must follow his example," because "For either of them to discover us would be fatal." Physical Apperance Edit Lecter was a small and sleek man but was deceptively strong. His left hand had a condition called mid ray duplication polydactyly, i.e. a duplicated middle finger. [5] He later performed plastic surgery on his own face on several occasions and removes his extra digit. [3] Lecter's eyes were a shade of maroon and reflected the light in "pinpoints of red". He also had small white teeth and dark, slicked-back hair with a widow's peak.

[5] Personality Anthony Hopkins: Silence of the Lambs is ‘okay’, Hannibal, Red Dragon were ‘mistakes’ Email a friend ANTHONY Hopkins has admitted he regrets reprising his role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter after The Silence of the Lambs was released. The Welsh actor, who won an Academy Award for his role as the cannibalistic serial killer in the 1991 original, later appeared as Lecter again in the 2001 sequel, Hannibal, and the 2002 prequel, Red Dragon. “I did it once,” said Hopkins to TheWrap about playing the brilliant psychiatrist. “Made the mistake of doing it twice — three times. The Silence of the Lambs is okay. It was a good film.” When asked if he’d ever consider playing Dr. Lecter one more time, the 78-year-old’s response was emphatic: “No.” “I don’t want to do that,” he said, “Done with that.” The character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter was created by author Thomas Harris, who has written four books starring the creepy character.

Anthony Hopkins with Julianne Moore in Hannibal.Source:News Limited Hannibal the Cannibal Hannibal the Cannibal Dr. Lecter is the great fictional monster of our time. Audio 480 pp. New York: Delacorte Press. $27.95. n the dining room, there are flowers and candlelight and harpsichord music -- ''If Love Now Reigned,'' composed by Henry VIII in 1510. A woman enters, dressed in a long dinner gown of cream silk and wearing emerald earrings. Her companion is casual but elegant in his dark trousers, white shirt and ascot. ''What are we having?'' the woman asks. Her host, Dr. Lecter -- known in some quarters as Hannibal the Cannibal -- raises his finger to his lips. ''You never ask,'' he replies. ''It spoils the surprise.'' Indeed. And what is true of gourmet meals and cannibal feasts is equally true of the suspense novel: knowing too much beforehand spoils the surprise.

The worst thing I could do is summarize this novel in any detail, and were I the book's editor, I would argue very strongly for flap copy consisting of only three words: ''HERE IT IS.'' Surely that would suffice for Thomas Harris's fans, who have waited 11 years for the rematch between Clarice Starling, intrepid F.B.I. agent (''cornpone, but with a little taste''), and Hannibal Lecter, the great fictional monster of our time. Most of Harris's devotees have read his entire oeuvre, and why not? Until now it consisted of only three novels. In a culture where a handful of popular novelists pump out a book or two a year, producing them like hormone-juiced hens laying eggs, Harris's rare appearances in the marketplace make him a singularity: a novelist whose work can be grasped entire not just by English department profs and tenure-bound grad students but by the humble folk who entertain themselves with novels on airplanes and in overcrowded waiting rooms.

Harris is not for all these people, of course -- I don't think many of the Danielle Steel crowd will be rushing out to buy a book in which one character is eaten from the inside out by a ravenous moray eel -- but for those who like what Harris can do so brilliantly, no book report is required. The readers who have been waiting for ''Hannibal'' only want to know if it is as good as ''Red Dragon'' and ''The Silence of the Lambs'' (we can exclude Harris's other novel, a terrorist thriller called ''Black Sunday,'' from this discussion; it seems to have been written before the author himself clearly understood what he was up to). It is a pleasure to reply in the negative. No, not as good. This one is better. It is, in fact, one of the two most frightening popular novels of our time, the other being ''The Exorcist,'' by William Peter Blatty. Sequels are usually lame ducks, poor things that are unable to keep up with their predecessors. ''Hannibal'' is really not a sequel at all, but rather the third and most satisfying part of one very long and scary ride through the haunted palace of abnormal psychiatry.

Athena Varounis/ Delacorte Press Thomas Fleming Reviews 'Red Dragon' (November 15, 1981) In the books that form the Lecter trilogy, we see the doctor take form slowly, advancing from a minor, almost incidental character in ''Red Dragon'' to a major player in ''The Silence of the Lambs,'' where his evil and intelligence quickly overshadow the less interesting presence of Jame Gumb (a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill because he is reputed to skin his victims), to the central figure in the book that bears his name. In a late-century literary landscape where most psycho-villains are little fellows in rubber masks, armed with knives and burdened with cumbersome sexual kinks, Dr. Lecter casts a long shadow indeed. ''In fact,'' Harris writes in his carefully measured prose, ''there is no consensus in the psychiatric community that Dr. Lecter should be termed a man. He has long been regarded by his professional peers in psychiatry, many of whom fear his acid pen in the professional journals, as something entirely Other. For convenience they term him a 'monster.' '' So the word is out, and it's le mot juste.

If Hannibal Lecter isn't a Count Dracula for the computer-and-cell-phone age, then we don't have one. arris, the Thomas Pynchon of the popular novel in terms of both his low visibility and his sparse production, is in charge of his story and his material from the book's opening: ''Clarice Starling's Mustang boomed up the entrance ramp at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms . . . a headquarters rented from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the interest of economy.'' It seems so much as if he has never been away, even in this first sentence, that one wonders just why he has been. And, perhaps, where he has been. If one mourns for the books that might have been during those years when we have had to put up with pale Lecter-substitutes (one good rule of thumb for book buyers might be never to buy a novel with ''In the tradition of'' on the cover), one must also acknowledge that Harris's antihero has gained an even darker aspect as a result of his long wait offstage. No character in popular fiction is as fragile as the monster, or so prone to losing his pants in his later appearances.

Freddy Krueger is authentically terrifying when he first flashes his scalpel fingernails in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street,'' but by the third installment of the series he has become a pal and by the sixth he has become a joke. In 11 years Hannibal Lecter's notoriety has grown rather than lessened, and he is no joke -- although, like all great monsters, he is not without a certain soulless sense of humor. Barney, his old attendant, recalls Dr. Lecter once saying that ''whenever it was 'feasible,' he preferred to eat the rude. 'Free-range rude,' he called them.'' ''Hannibal'' is a novel full of rough bumps and little insights as sharp as one of the doctor's own needles; Harris observes America with a cultured civility and perfect grasp of Southern idiom that only Tom Wolfe can match. And Harris understands plot as well as language. The result is a book as insightful as ''A Man in Full,'' but rather more successful; there is never the feeling that the author is carrying his story on his back like a heavy piece of furniture, teeth gritted and cords popping out on his neck.

''Hannibal'' is a balloon Harris bats steadily onward, probably with a grin on his face. The balloon happens to be full of poison gas and bad dreams, true, but as has been previously suggested, Harris is not writing for everyone. This is authentic witch's brew, eye of newt and haunch of redneck, not chicken soup. ''Hannibal'' is a full-out, unabashed horror novel, in other words. One erstwhile patient of Dr. Lecter's describes how the doctor persuaded him to peel off his face with a piece of mirror glass, then feed it to his dogs. This isn't horrible, only gross. The horror comes when the patient adds, ''They got my nose back when they pumped the dogs' stomachs at the animal shelter, but the graft didn't take.'' Yet Harris is also capable of turns of phrase you won't find in the latest Patricia Cornwell. ''He . . . carried the scars of a man who, in the haste and fear of his ambition, once seized his gift by the blade,'' Harris writes of the unfortunate Florentine policeman who tries to collar Lecter for the reward.

Nor is Harris unaware or unmindful of what our own interest in such dark fare may mean for our culture and our civilization: ''Now that ceaseless exposure has calloused us to the lewd and the vulgar, it is instructive to see what still seems wicked to us. What still slaps the clammy flab of our submissive consciousness hard enough to get our attention?'' Well, Hannibal Lecter does, for one thing. RELATED SITES Thomas Harris Reads From 'Hannibal' courtesy of Random House Two mountains are likely to arise this summer in the generally flat topography of the Great American Masscult: George Lucas's fourth ''Star Wars'' movie and this third episode of Harris's smart and scary retelling of ''Beauty and the Beast'' (a character in ''Hannibal'' actually notes this similarity, although in an unfairly dismissive fashion). Lucas's space cadets will most likely rule the box office, and Harris's lunatics (these include Dr. Lecter's old friend Sammie, who once put his mother's head in the church collection plate) will most likely rule the best-seller lists.

Of the two, the novel is the more finely nuanced: ''It was Krendler's nature to both appreciate Starling's leg and look for the hamstring.'' It is also the one in which a man is eaten alive by a pig. In ''The Phantom Menace'' there is mention of the dark side of the Force; Dr. Hannibal Lecter is that dark side. IN ''Dracula,'' a singular work of genius by an otherwise untalented writer, Bram Stoker has the wit to present the count in one scene as a figure of absurdity -- dressed in a great floppy planter's hat to ward off the hateful rays of the sun, he appears at the London docks to personally direct a shipment of the boxes of earth that will become his bedrooms. The dockworkers pay him and his gesticulations very little mind, noting only that he speaks much of ''bloom'' and ''blood.'' In ''Hannibal,'' Thomas Harris gives us an equally brilliant scene as Dr. Lecter -- dressed in a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey jersey and sneaking back into North America as part of an airborne tour group -- prepares to dine.

After years in a maximum security cell, he is able to live with his cramped quarters at the rear of the jumbo jet, and he has trained his mind to deal with the proximity of so many people (it is their smells that principally trouble him), but he is unable to bear the thought of eating the airline food, ''freezing-cold sandwiches of slippery meat.'' He has thus provided himself with a meal from Fauchon, the Paris caterer: pate de foie gras and Anatolian figs. He waits ''with the patience of a python'' for the other passengers to fall asleep, then stealthily pulls the catered meal out from under his seat and unties the silk ribbons that hold the box shut. At this point a little boy, who has been observing him all the while, cozens the monster out of his meal, mistaking the pate for a liverwurst sandwich without the bread and gobbling it down greedily. It is a wonderful moment, a comic ray of light that makes the darkness of Dr. Lecter's heart and mind all the blacker. Is this the end for the doctor and the F.B.I. agent?

Harris is crafty enough to leave the door to a fourth installment open, but just a crack. I hope with all my heart that he will write again, and sooner rather than later -- novels that so bravely and cleverly erase the line between popular fiction and literature are very much to be prized -- but I would rather see him bar this door and go down a different corridor. Familiarity, even with a monster, breeds contempt. As it is, I like to think of Dr. Lecter in his Maple Leafs warm-up jersey, losing his carefully husbanded gourmet meal to the little boy. He takes the loss quite well, I might add. Even genially. Why, a man like that could steal your heart. Not to mention your liver . . . your sweetbreads . . . your. . . . Stephen King's most recent novel is ''The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.''

Question: Which author created the character Hannibal Lecter ?
Answer: THOMAS HARRIS