Hannibal Lecter

Personallity

He is highly intelligent and cultured, with refined tastes and impeccable manners. He is deeply offended by rudeness, and often kills people who exhibit bad manners; according to the novel Hannibal, he "prefers to eat the rude". ~ Hannibal Lecter to Dr. Chilton. In this continuity, Hannibal is from an aristocratic family in Lithuania, and he was irreparably traumatized as a child when a villager murdered and cannibalized his sister, Mischa, and forced Hannibal to eat some of her remains. Although this offers an explanation on his killing spree and cannibalistic methods, it simply does not explain his severe psychopathy. For psychopathy to be as extreme as it is with Hannibal, it must have been present before going through that event or was the result of several events he endured over time. Hannibal is, at first glance, seen as a courteous man, a man of class and sophistication. He is charming, intelligent and extremely glib; beneath this likable facade, however, he is a calculating, sadistic psychopath who derives pleasure from torturing, murdering, and eating people. He has no remorse or empathy for his victims, not even when he cooks and eats them. That being said, he has a warped set of morals as he prefers to kill people he deems as 'rude'. He views himself as a godlike entity and feels he is above everyone else which hints at his very narcissistic personality. He does not hesitate in disposing of people interfering with his work, which is evidenced by the murder of Abigail Hobbs and his attempted murder of Jack Crawford. Hannibal is a rare example of a serial killer who is arrogant yet also pragmatic in nature. Hannibal sees his former patient Will Graham as his "best friend", despite having framed him and tried to devour him. Throughout the series, Hannibal tries to corrupt Will and turn him into a killer like himself. According to showrunner Bryan Fuller, Hannibal and Will are in love with each other. In an interview, Fuller also revealed that Hannibal is pansexual.

Background

Past Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania to aristocratic parents and was orphaned at a young age. Hannibal became something of a father figure to his younger sister, Mischa, after their parents died. Eventually, however, she was murdered by a villager; Hannibal then ate his sister's remains as a way to forgive her for making him deny himself. He also became close friends with a girl named Chiyoh. Later on, Lecter found the presumed killer of his sister and nearly killed him, before being stopped by Chiyoh. Chiyoh and Hannibal ultimately managed to make a deal and Chiyoh agreed to keep the killer as a prisoner. Then, Lecter immigrated to the U.S. to study at John Hopkins Medical Center. He briefly worked as a surgeon before switching his specialty to psychiatry. Hannibal became the teacher of Alana Bloom (who later had an intimate relationship with him). However, Alana was sometimes frustrated by his unorthodox methods as a psychiatrist. At some point during his career, Lecter became the patient of his colleague, Bedelia Du Maurier. He is a member of Baltimore, Maryland's social elite, and enjoys fine cuisine, wine, and high culture. He is fond of giving elaborate, ornate dinner parties featuring gourmet cuisine that he cooks. Beneath his cultivated façade, however, he is a cannibalistic serial killer dubbed "The Chesapeake Ripper", who kills people he considers "rude".

Season 1

Hannibal murdered his victims including his patient Jeremy Oldstead and he uses their organs as ingredients in his recipes. Lecter was then paid a visit by Jack Crawford, who asked him to help Will Graham, a troubled criminal profiler who struggled to come to terms with his ability to empathize with psychopaths. Hannibal joined the FBI investigation of the murders of college girls committed by Garret Jacob Hobbs, who lived with his wife and daughter. Alana enlists her colleague Will the help of Hannibal who takes a keen interest in the case. During the investigation, Hannibal killed Cassie Boyle and prepared her lungs as meat for his dinner, Will thought it was a breakthrough for the case. Hannibal visited Will's house, during which Hannibal brought breakfast for him. Will told Hannibal about his thoughts that the killer had a daughter of own, thinking that his victims were golden tickets as Hannibal continued to psychoanalyze Will. Hannibal and Will visited a construction site and found Hobbs' file, along with his letter of resignation. Hannibal snuck into the office, found, Hobbs' number and called it. Hobbs' daughter Abigail answered the call and gave the phone to her father. Hannibal informed him that the FBI was about to arrest him, which caused Hobbs to breakdown and kill his wife. Then, Hobbs attempted to kill his own daughter, Abigail, as Hannibal followed Will at a distance. Will slammed the door of Hobbs' house and killed Hobbs by shooting him, just before he could prevent Hobbs from slitting his own daughter's throat. Abigail survived, but fell into into a coma. Hannibal and Will sat beside her in the hospital until she woke up. Will was haunted by the encounter with Hobbs, so he visited Lecter. The two were able to engage in very candid conversation about Crawford's theories that Abigail may have been involved as an accomplice in her father's murders, but they were also burdened by a sense of obligation to look after her. Hannibal invited Jack over for a gourmet dinner, during which they discussed Will's mental illness. Jack then tells Lecter that Will already had his psych evaluation. After Will shot Eldon Stammets, saving Abigail from being kidnapped, he continued his therapy at Hannibal's office. Will discussed his own psyche and asked Lecter about seeing Hobbs' ghost. Will surmised Hobbs was haunting him. After Abigail awoke from coma after having nightmares of slaughtering a stag with her father, she was questioned by the police about her involvement with murders committed by her father and faced death threats in Minnesota for being a murderer's daughter. When Freddie enters Abigail's room asking about direct information and to warn her about Will and Hannibal as they entered the room. Hannibal and Alana had talked with Jack about the issues of Abigail's crimes, manipulation or state mind. Hannibal, Will and Alana took Abigail to visit the crime scene at the Hobbs' house, which was vandalized by graffiti writing reading "Cannibals" on the garage door. Hannibal watched from a distance, silent to hide his crimes. Only Abigail's friend Marissa Shurr believed that Abigail didn't commit her crimes, but was harassed by Nicholas Boyle, whose sister is Hannibal's victim. Hannibal was displeased to see the troublesome relationship between Marissa and her mother; as he and Will searched for Nicholas in the forest, he seized the opportunity by leaving his shoe behind on rock and killing Marissa. Will tried to recreate the crime at Hobbs' cabin, when, suddenly, blood dripped and Abigail was horrified to see her friend Marissa impaled, hanging on a rack of antlers. This soon made Nicholas Boyle the main suspect in the crimes of the copycat killer. Horrified about her friend's demise, Abigail rushed back to her house and was confronted by a crying Mrs. Shurr, who blamed Abigail for her daughter's death. While Hannibal comforted Mrs. Shurr, Abigail went to her house and shockingly found that a pillow in her house was filled with human hair. Suddenly, Nicholas Boyle rushed to Abigail, desperately trying to explain that he did not murder Marissa. Horrified, Abigail accidentally stabbed Nicholas with the kitchen knife, killing him. When Hannibal and Alana went into the house, Hannibal saw Abigail walk upstairs with blood covering her hands. Hannibal immediately ambushed Alana and punched her unconscious, before going to see Nicholas' corpse with Abigail. Hannibal helped Abigail buried Nicholas somewhere, and he lied to Jack, Alana, and Will as soon as Alana awoke. Then, Jack suspected Nicholas Boyle as the copycat and also believed he was at large. Back in his office, Hannibal sat at his desk writing notes before he greeted Abigail. She asked how he knew she was there, despite her concealed presence, and Hannibal told her the hospital called to inform him that she climbed the wall. She was clearly overwhelmed by her murder, and Hannibal acknowledged her distress. Abigail told Hannibal she did not want to sleep, and he told her she could not anticipate her dreams. Abigail confronted him about the call to the house, as she knew it was Lecter who called to warn her father. Hannibal deflected her assertion but promised he would keep her secret. In turn, Abigail promised the same. Abigail began meeting with Alana Bloom, who helped her recover. Alana spoke with Lecter about Abigail's treatment and listened to his suggestions. Lecter invited Jack for 'rabbit' dinner and revealed his suspicions about Abigail as an accomplice to her father's crimes. Will had sessions with Lecter, where they discussed the recent crimes and Will's mental health. Against Alana's wishes, Hannibal brought Abigail out of the hospital; he later encouraged her to drink a tea made from psilocybin mushrooms to replace her traumatic memories. Will saved a young boy and his family by shooting the nefarious woman kidnapper before she could take more victims. Meanwhile, Alana became angry with Hannibal for releasing Abigail, but she eventually gives in after seeing how happy Abigail seems. Will was suffering from sleepwalking episodes and later disclosed to Hannibal that his post traumatic disorder caused him to sleepwalk. Will and Jack were tasked to investigate the grisly murders of a couple in a hotel. The victims were both displayed in a traditional prayer position and their flesh was mutilated by Elliot Buddish. Jack brought his wife Bella to Hannibal's for dinner and they dined on foie gras (which Bella disliked, since she was a vegetarian). Bella admitted that she needed an appointment with Dr. Lecter about her marriage. Will visited Lecter's office to converse about his latest case, and Jack soon became worried about Hannibal's influence on Will. Bella visited Hannibal about her recent suspicions of her infidelity and confessed that she was battling lung cancer. Will remained anxious about his sleepwalking and, after a moment's pacing, paused to stare at one of the decorations in Hannibal's office. Lecter took the opportunity to smell Will; despite his attempt at discretion, Will noticed and asked "Did you just smell me?". Hannibal was quick to respond that he did, claiming that it was hard not to smell him since Will's cologne was so overpowering.

Season 2

Hannibal visited Will in the Baltimore State Hospital for Criminally Insane and Will threatened that "There [would] be a reckoning." As Jack feeling upset about Will, Hannibal forged a plan to "save" Will. To achieve that, he killed the judge who deemed Will to be guilty. Meanwhile, doubting Hannibal to be the Ripper, Beverly Katz went to Hannibal's home and she found James Grey the muralist's kidney. She then found a secret basement beneath Hannibal's home. She went into the basement and saw something that made her shocked - Abigail Hobbs who were still alive (as Fuller later confirmed). At this time, Beverly went back home. He found and killed Beverly, strangling her and sliced her into thin pieces, placing them in the same observatory where Miriam's arm was found and Chilton was nearly mutilated. After knowing Beverly's death, Will saw how beastly Hannibal really is and sent his "admirer" Matthew Brown to Hannibal and attempted to kill him and revenge Abigail and Beverly. However, Abel Gideon overheard their plan and told Alana everything. Jack and Alana went to save Hannibal and arrested Matthew. This season is often seen as a "seduction" Will probed on Hannibal; Giving the cannibal a view that Will trusted him and even killed and served his victims for him. (Will killed Randall Tier and pretended to kill Freddie Lounds for Hannibal). Hannibal and Will find a common enemy in Mason Verger, whom they both despise for emotionally and sexually abusing his twin sister Margot. Hannibal takes on Mason as a patient as part of a plan to kill him, but Mason becomes suspicious of him and kidnaps him, intending to feed the doctor to his prize pigs. Hannibal escapes, however, and takes Mason hostage to Graham's house. There, he feeds Mason a cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs and "influences" him to peel off his own face and feed it to Graham's dogs. With Graham's tacit approval, Hannibal breaks Mason's neck with his bare hands, rendering him a horribly disfigured quadriplegic. In the season finale, Will finds Abigail alive with Hannibal, who tells Will he let "him see his true self" and he couldn't leave without Will behind when the profiler told him he should have ran off when they could. Heartbroken, he proceeds to gut Will in his abdomen and cutting Abigail's neck open, leaving the both of them and showing that he escaped the U.S with his psychiatrist and lover, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier.

season 3

While Hannibal Lecter is now fugitive for his crimes along with Bedelia as his co-partner or hostage , Will met Chiyoh, the servant of Hannibal's aunt Lady Murasaki, who got information about his whereabouts for finding Hannibal. While in Italy, Will tells Hannibal he forgives him. Hannibal captures Will after their reunion and plans to cut his head open and eat him in front of Jack Crawford, however agents working for a vengeful Mason kidnap Hannibal and Will and take them back to the US to Mason's farm. Mason plans to have Hannibal slowly dismembered by henchman Cordell Doemling so Mason can eat parts of Hannibal. Hannibal manages to convince Alana Bloom to save him, and in return he will get sperm from Mason who her and Mason's sister Margot can have a child and also promises to rescue Will. Alana complies and Hannibal saves Will from having his face cut off by Cordell, and in return kills Cordell, removes his face and puts it on the face of an unconscious Mason. Hannibal stimulates Mason's prostate with a cattle prod causing him to ejaculate and leaves him behind for Alana and Margot to kill. Will later awakens but refuses to have anything to do with Hannibal, telling him he does not want to know where Hannibal is anymore and tells him to leave, but Hannibal hands himself into the police. Hannibal escapes the death penalty and is sent to a mental hospital where Alana is now administrator. Three-years later Will returns to Hannibal in order to catch a serial killer known as the "Tooth Fairy" (real name Francis Dolarhyde). Near the end of the season Hannibal agrees to be used as bait to lure the killer out and is transferred to another facility. Dolarhyde kills the police escort, and Hannibal and Will team up to track him down. A revelation during the series also reveals that Hannibal is in love with Graham and Graham himself aches for it. Hannibal and Will both attack and kill Dolarhyde together and Hannibal tells Will it is all he wanted for him. The pair embrace near a cliff but Will pulls him and Hannibal over the edge and into the waters below. It is unknown if they survived, however Bedelia with her leg removed at a dinner table, with it set for two more guests, hinting that Will and Hannibal possibly survived. Showrunner Bryan Fuller revealed that the intent was to suggest they survived.