Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania in 1938 to wealthy parents. His father was a count, his mother a descendent of the famous Visconti family of Milan. In Hannibal he is said to be a cousin of the artist Balthus. He had a younger sister named Mischa.
When Lecter was six, a group of German deserters retreating from Russia shelled his family's estate, killing his parents and most of the servants. Lecter, his sister, and other local children were rounded up by the group of deserters to be used as sustenance during the cold Baltic winter. Mischa was killed and cannibalized, but young Lecter managed to escape. It is believed that this event would shape the rest of Lecter's life. Years later, he would come to see his nemesis (and obsession) Clarice Starling as a surrogate for his sister.
In Red Dragon, Harris wrote that, as a child, Lecter showed the first and earliest sign of sociopathic behavior: sadism towards animals. As this doesn't appear to fit completely seamlessly with his later characterization, some fans have doubted its accuracy. It should also be pointed out that to be diagnosed as a true sociopath, Lecter must fulfill at least two other requirements from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual's checklist; he shows only one, a lack of remorse over his actions. It should be noted that Harris also wrote in Red Dragon that Lecter did not really fit any existing psychological profile, so psychiatrists called him a sociopath for lack of another appropriate label.
Lecter established a psychiatric practice in Baltimore, Maryland 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.
Lecter killed at least nine people before his capture, becoming known in the Baltimore area as "The Chesapeake Ripper." Only three of his victims survived, including Will Graham, an FBI profiler who was Lecter's captor and who figures largely in the plot of Red Dragon. Another one of these, Mason Verger, figures largely in the plot of Hannibal.
Only two of the twelve victims are known by name in the books: Benjamin Raspail and Verger. Verger was the scion of a wealthy and influential family who controlled a meat-packing empire. Verger went through psychiatric counseling with Lecter after being convicted of child molestation. Lecter drugged Verger and suggested he try cutting off his face. Verger complied and, again at Lecter's suggestion, ate his own nose, feeding the rest of his face to two dogs. Lecter then broke Verger's neck and left him to die. Verger survived, but was forever confined to a life support machine.
Raspail was Lecter's ninth and final (known) victim before his incarceration. Raspail was a not-so-talented flautist with the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra, and it is believed that Lecter killed Raspail because his musicianship, or lack thereof, spoiled his enjoyment of the orchestra's concerts. 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. Raspail claimed to have killed a man whose head was found years later in Raspail's rented storage garage in Baltimore, but Lecter suspected him of covering up for his former lover, Jame Gumb, who would later be involved in Lecter's life as the serial killer dubbed "Buffalo Bill."
The novels also mention a few details about Lecter's other victims. One, who initially survived, was taken to a private mental hospital in Denver, Colorado. Others include a bow hunter, a census taker, 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; he gave them a recipe for potato chip dip. His last three killings happened within nine days.
Lecter's cannibalism is thought to be a kind of revenge fantasy born from watching his sister being cannibalized. He eats his victims because they represent to him the kind of low, bestial individuals who would kill and eat a small child; he's not only getting back at them, but showing them he's better than they are by consuming them with exquisite taste (no pun intended), with gourmet recipes and fine wine. He feels that his victims — a child molester, an incompetent musician, a census taker rude enough to try to "quantify" him — are as inferior as the deserters who took his sister away from him, and so deserve to die.
Lecter was caught in March or April of 1975 by FBI Special Agent Will Graham. Graham was investigating a series of murders in the Baltimore area committed by a serial killer, and had turned to Lecter for professional (and personal) advice. 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 the Wound Man – an illustration used in many early medical books. Graham left to call the police, but while he was on the phone Lecter attacked him with a linoleum knife.
The courts found Lecter insane. Thus, he was spared prison and sent to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital (later the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.)
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Classic.
Originally Posted by rezo
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