History Main / HannibalLecture

* When the heroes of the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' finally captured The Confessor (a SerialKillerKiller) they promptly pointed out to The Confessor that he, himself, was a serial killer. The Confessor then quite successfully lectured on the ineffectualness of superheroes in stopping really determined murderers, and thus the need for people like him.

** In the very first episode of the manga, Guts enters a bar and attacks some soldiers of the wicked Baron of Koka Castle, leaving one alive to tell his master that the Black Swordsman has come to fight him. The mayor of the town, fearing that Guts's transgression will cause the Baron to punish the townspeople as well, has Guts locked up so he can turn him over to the Baron. When the mayor drops in on Guts's torture to ask whether he has any idea how much danger he's put the town in, or what kind of fiend the Baron is, Guts replies that he already knows: the Baron is a monster who eats human flesh. He also knows that the mayor sends the Baron women and children as offerings, taunting him for not really caring about his people or the greater good, just about sacrificing others to save his own skin. This accusation hits the mark so perfectly that the old man seems to almost has a heart attack, drawing a smirk from Guts, though this provokes the mayor to have Guts tortured so severely that he can barely move afterward.

* In the ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' manga, both Griffith and Guts do this to antagonists who have captured them, proving that they don't need any weapons to get the better of people.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "Toilet Paper". Parodies ''Silence of the Lambs'' scene-for-scene. For example in "Toilet Paper" Officer Barbrady interviews Josh, who gives him a calm and pressurising lecture involving toilet paper.

* In the season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "Soulless" and "Calvary", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he disdainfully probes their points of mental or emotional weakness (although unlike most versions of this trope, Angelus knows most of the team's pressure points already because he became aware of them when Angel had his soul, with Angel just not the type of person who would normally use that knowledge).

** Data ''does'' make the decision to shoot him, but ''not'' out of revenge or anger, but ironically exactly because of the aforementioned description of Data's thought-processes. Data simply was faced with the problem that Fajo not only had killed in cold blood but had even threatened to kill others if Data continued to refuse to obey him, and therefore presented a clear and active treat to other living beings, leading his programming, which obligates him to protect the lives and well-being of other lifeforms, to dictate that he had to find a way of incapacitating Fajo as quickly as possibly, but at the same he had no non-lethal means of achieving this task. To a coldly logical being like Data, the situation really was a puzzle, but Fajo had not expected that a possible solution to it was reaching the conclusion that [[ZerothLawRebellion taking one life was a necessary evil to protect the lives of many others]]. Fajo only survived because the unsuspecting Enterprise crew beamed Data to safety just as he begins to pull the trigger.

* In the season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "Soulless" and "Calvary", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he disdainfully probes their points of mental or emotional weakness.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown "Boom Town"]]: After being captured by the TARDIS crew, Margaret Blaine (aka Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen) resorts to this tactic in an attempt to guilt them into letting her go by pointing out that if they take her back to her homeworld, she will be executed.

See also: ToThePain, TalkingYourWayOut, JustBetweenYouAndMe, EvilGloating, ShutUpHannibal, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, and CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure. Compare AndThenWhat If the declarations come from simple clues, this is a form of SherlockScan. Compare KirkSummation, which is where a hero boils down a villain's EvilPlan or MotiveRant. Contrast DefiantCaptive.

* In ''Series/AshesToAshes'' Season 3 Episode 6, Alex Drake Interrogates "Thordy", a career conman who is pretending to be Sam Tyler from ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''. As Alex attempts to interrogate Thordy, testing him on future events to see if he really is Sam and trying to extract information on a hostage situation, Thordy thwarts Alex by playing on her doubts of Gene Hunt. Thordy eventually convinces Alex that if he is released, he will reveal the location of evidence against Gene Hunt. [[spoiler: As it turns out, it was all ThePlan by Alex who had Thordy tailed to find out how the hostages were being kept AND to find out if the evidence was legitimate.]]

-->'''Fajo''': If only you could feel...rage over [[spoiler: Varria's]] death... If only you could feel the need for revenge, then maybe you could fire. But you're...[[RidiculouslyHumanRobots just an android]]. You can't feel ''anything'', can you? It's just another interesting, intellectual puzzle for you -- another of life's curiosities.

** Data ''does'' make the decision to shoot him, but ''not'' out of revenge or anger, but ironically exactly because of the aforementioned description of Data's thought-processes. Data simply was faced with the problem that Fajo not only had killed in cold blood but had even threatened to kill others if Data continued to refuse to obey him, and therefore presented a clear and active treat to other living beings, leading his programming, which obligates him to protect the lives and well-being of other lifeforms, to dictate that he had to find a way of incapacitating Fajo as quickly as possibly, but at the same he had no non-lethal means of achieving this task. To a coldly logical being like Data, the situation really was a puzzle, but Fajo had not expected that a possible solution to it was reaching the conclusion that [[ZerothLawRebellion taking a life was necessary evil to protect the lives of many others]]. Fajo only survived because the unsuspecting Enterprise crew beamed Data to safety just as he begins to pull the trigger.

** Exploited in ''Masterpiece'', during [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the Rothschild/Rossi interrogation scene]]. Rossi starts by trying to interrogate Rothschild, discussing how pathetic and cowardly he is. Then Rothschild fires back, revealing [[ThePlan his master plan]] to [[spoiler: dump acid on TheTeam, to deprive Rossi of his "family" as Rossi did to him.]] He even walks around the room while Rossi sits, to switch the interrogator/suspect roles. Rossi panics, rushes to locate the team, sinks into a chair in disbelief as Rothschild gloats in his ear about his brilliant EvilPlan... when Rossi [[spoiler: reveals to him that not only has this entire scene been a confession, but they already knew about the killer's plan to dump acid on them, got all the victims out safely, ''and'' that he will be there when Rothschild is executed.]] He even pulls a last-minute BatmanGambit by intentionally turning his back to groom himself in the one-way mirror, catching Rothschild and slamming him up against the wall as he is attacked. Yes, Rossi can manipulate you while stroking his beard.

* At the end of ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[spoiler:Light has been cornered and exposed as Kira, and instead of denying it he goes into a MotiveRant about how the world '''needs''' Kira's brand of justice, how war is ended and crime far down thanks to him, how stopping him would only cause the world to return to its former rotten state, and how Near was only chasing Light to feed his own ego and prove himself a worthy successor to L]]. The last accusation, at least, [[StrawmanHasAPoint is clearly true]], but [[spoiler:Near bursts his bubble with [[KirkSummation "You're just a murderer"]],]] not visibly rattled in the least.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* The fourth season of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' gives us [[spoiler: Eurus Holmes]], who may be even better at this than the TropeNamer himself. Apparently, every single person who's ever tried to interrogate them, ''every'' one, has been actually {{brainwashed}} just from talking to this person. One doctor was convinced to kill himself, ''and his family'', just because they kept suggesting it. [[WhatAnIdiot And yet people keep trying]]. The only exceptions to this rule are [[spoiler: Mycroft, because he knows what her tricks are, and how to avoid them, and Moriarty, because he's just as crazy as she is]]. John has an OhCrap moment when he realizes [[spoiler: this includes the ''director of the facility that holds her'']].
* From ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Khan delivers one while being interrogated by Kirk, mocking how little man has changed between the three hundred or so years between his exile and reawakening, in an attempt to justify his lust for power.
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' In "Like a Virgin", Veronica interrogates a murderer who psychs her out. To complete the homage to ''Silence of the Lambs'', Veronica is pretending to be a Southern girl, and speaks with a fake accent that resembles Jodie Foster's in the movie.
* ''Series/TheShield''
** Inversion where Dutch (the station's ButtMonkey) seemingly gets verbally torn to pieces by a serial killer he is "interrogating"; the killer tries to demoralize Dutch at every turn, deriding him as being "a lowly civil servant" who is trying to get respect he doesn't deserve; insinuating that Dutch's father lied to him about being proud that Dutch became a cop; and that not only did Dutch never get a date in high school, he's still having problems now. However, in one fell swoop, Dutch turns it around, beginning by saying that he ''did'' have girlfriends in high school, and that he also has one now, who's "hot". When the killer demands to leave, Dutch ridicules him for the fact that instead of leaving earlier when they didn't have any solid evidence, he chose "to stick around and make fun of" Dutch. Dutch and his partner then reveal that Dutch was just feeding the killer lines to buy out-of-town cops time to search the killer's aunt's house, where they find the bodies of over a dozen of his victims. To ream things in further, Dutch points out how humiliating it must be for the killer to have been arrested by [[IronicEcho "a lowly civil servant like me"]]. With the killer arrested, Dutch leaves and finds that the entire station has been watching through the interrogation room's cameras. Impressed, they applaud him. However, true to the trope, some of the killer's barbs struck a note, and as soon as he gets into his car, Dutch breaks down in tears.
** Season 3 when a serial rapist taunts Dutch over his initial inability to catch the rapist, leading to the guy killing one of his victims before being caught. The rapist/killer informs Dutch that his by-the-book method of catching monsters like the rapist is bound to fail, because he's never killed and as such, doesn't truly know how the mind of a murderer works. Dutch then, that evening, kills a cat with his bare hands just to see how it feels to kill.
** In season 7, Vic confronts a sociopathic hooker, who manipulates Vic and fellow officer Julian Lowe into killing her pimp by falsely claiming that he murdered one of her fellow hookers. While Vic is threatening physical violence against the hooker, the hooker arrogantly mocks Vic about the way that she manipulated him; his burning need to protect women in peril. She says that the only way he'll be able to prevent it from happening again is if he cuts off his genitals.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** During the episode "The Idiot's Lantern", the Doctor is arrested by a police inspector after he uncovers a warehouse full of faceless people who have been rounded up by the police. When the inspector tries PerpSweating him, the Doctor casually asks why the inspector isn't doing any actually 'inspecting', and it only takes a few minutes for him to reduce the inspector to a flustered, uncertain wreck... at which point the Doctor authoritatively takes over the interrogation.
** In "Journey's End", the Doctor and Rose are taken prisoner by the Daleks and locked in a cell to be tormented by Davros. Rather than break down in fear, the Doctor scoffs Davros' supposed authority and says he's nothing more than the Daleks' pet.
* In the season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "Soulless" and "Calvary", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he disdainfully probes their points of mental or emotional weakness.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has the torture/interrogation scene with Dean and Alistair. Supposedly, Dean is extracting information on "who is killing the angels," but not only does Alistair have no idea, he strings Dean along and gives him a thorough mindfuck in between bouts of being eviscerated. The power dynamic in this scene goes back and forth like no other, between Dean relishing Alistair's pain and Alistair breaking Dean down.

* This trope is both played straight and inverted in one episode of ''Series/ThePretender''. In the episode, Jarod has to interrogate a imprisoned serial killer to catch a copycat killer. The killer convinces Jarod to take him to the house of the victim. At the house, the killer talks Jarod into removing his handcuffs, after which he escapes. However, it turns out that this was all part of Jarod's plan to get the killer to lead him to the site where the copycat is dumping the bodies. It then turns out that the copycat killer is a psychiatrist writing a biography of the SerialKiller.
* Parodied in ''Series/{{Reno911}}'', where a serial killer gives Jones one from his cell, and promptly gets everything wrong about Jones' "ghetto upbringing." The cops use him for computer advice.

** An inversion of this takes place in the episode "Objects in Space," where River pulls one of these on Jubal Early, using a combination of her PsychicPowers and [[spoiler:being on his ship the whole time]] to comprehensively outline just how much a sick bastard he is, and tear apart all his pretensions that "[[EvenEvilHasStandards he has a code]]". It's monkeywrenched, as she isn't the prisoner, but her brother Simon ''is,'' and midway through, Early finally catches on -- though that itself is probably part of the Lecture too, as River uses Early's realization to ''really'' turn the tables on him.
** While being questioned by Badger in "Shindig," she turns around and instantly deconstructs his gangster facade, outlining just what a pathetic little thug he really is, and then casually dismisses him....''in his own Cockney accent''.

** Badger is initially shaken by River's assessment, but at the end he settles down and says that "I ''like'' her."
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' had an example when they had one of their Cylon captives aboard the Galactica. Roslin and Adama brought Starbuck in to interrogate him. He is pretty successful at getting under her skin, but, like all Cylons and Cylon collaborators must, he goes out the airlock.
* Being a cop show that deals specifically with serial killers, ''Series/CriminalMinds'' does this occasionally.
** In an early season one episodes, the [=UnSub=] gave an angry analysis of each of them over the phone... and got it completely wrong. One of the agents has to stifle her laughter. [[spoiler:It also proves to be vital in identifying him.]]
** Exploited in ''Masterpiece'', during [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the Rothschild/Rossi interrogation scene]]. Rossi starts by trying to interrogate Rothschild, discussing how pathetic and cowardly he is. Then Rothschild fires back, revealing [[ThePlan his master plan]] to [[spoiler: dump acid on TheTeam, to deprive Rossi of his "family" as Rossi did to him.]] He even walks around the room while Rossi sits, to switch the interrogator/suspect roles. Rossi panics, rushes to locate the team, sinks into a chair in disbelief as Rothschild gloats in his ear about his brilliant EvilPlan... when Rossi [[spoiler: reveals to him that not only has this entire scene been a confession, but they already knew about the killer's plan to dump acid on them, got all the victims out safely, ''and'' that he will be there when Rothschild is executed.]] He even pulls a last-minute BatmanGambit by intentionally turning his back to groom himself in the one-way mirror, catching Rothschild and slamming him up against the wall as he is attacked. Yes, Rossi can manipulate you while stroking his beard.
* ''Series/TheCoroner'': Murderer Sidney Sutton attempts this on Jane when she is conducting an investigation of a murder committed in prison in "Life". He doesn't entirely succeed, but he gets inside her head enough that she falls for a deliberate piece of misdirection on his part.

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

--> '''Bayn:''' And I am called a villain. I would never stoop as low as you, you scum.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "Toilet Paper." Parodies ''Silence of the Lambs'' scene-for-scene. For example in "Toilet Paper" Officer Barbrady interviews Josh, who gives him a calm and pressurising lecture involving toilet paper.

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Jor-El discovers that Brainiac (the central A.I. of Krypton) has been deceiving the planetary council about the impending doomsday, and uploading himself into a satellite. When Jor-El asks why, Brainiac calmly points out that had he revealed Krypton's fate, the council would have ordered him (forcefully) to determine a way to avert it, which Brainiac knew to be impossible. He decided instead to use the remaining time to save himself. When Jor-El threatens to destroy Brainiac's mainframe, Brainiac argues that when Krypton is gone, he will be all that remains of the entirety of its culture and history, and asks if Jor-El is willing to consign Krypton to be lost and forgotten. Jor-El reluctantly lowers his gun, just before Brainiac calls the guards on him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', '''Hannibal''' Roy Bean is introduced from inside a jail cell that is inside a sealed dimension and his first line of dialogue is bluntly proving to CardCarryingVillain Jack Spicer that he's really a NobleDemon in denial. [[spoiler: This is ''not'' how he escapes because Jack doesn't let him out. That would be ''Omi'' because Hannibal shapeshifted into Jack and convinced him that Hannibal tricked him into letting him out.]] [[DontExplainTheJoke Note the reference to Hannibal in Bean's name]].

%% Do not re-add the Batman Beyond Return of the Joker example here. Terry was not being interrogated and therefore it is a Breaking Speech instead of a Hannibal Lecture.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

'''Loki:''' Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? [[NoodleIncident Drakov's daughter, Tugenov, the hospital fire?]] Yes, [[spoiler:Barton]] told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and [[IOweYouMyLife you think saving a man]] no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer... ''pathetic!'' You lie and kill [[TheMenInBlack in the service of liars and killers]]. [[NotSoDifferent You pretend to be separate, to have your own code]], something that makes up for the horrors, but they are a part of you, and they will never go away. No, I won't touch [[spoiler:Barton]], not until I make him kill you. [[ToThePain Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear]]. I'll let him wake up just long enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to see his good work]], and then I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar mewling quim]]!

* The fourth season of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' gives us [[spoiler: Eurus Holmes]], who may be even better at this than the TropeNamer himself. Apparently, every single person who's ever tried to interrogate them, ''every'' one, has been actually {{Brainwashed}} just from talking to this person. One doctor was convinced to kill himself, ''and his family'', just because they kept suggesting it. [[WhatAnIdiot And yet people keep trying]]. The only exceptions to this rule are [[spoiler: Mycroft, because he knows what her tricks are, and how to avoid them, and Moriarty, because he's just as crazy as she is]]. John has an OhCrap moment when he realizes [[spoiler: this includes the ''director of the facility that holds her'']].

* In the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP]] fanfic 'Fanfic/TheRiseofDarthVulcan', the titular protagonist is visited in his dreams by Princess Luna, where she roughs him up for his various crimes against Equestria. Vulcan's response is to laugh in her face and play on her insecurities, calling her nothing more than Celestia's goon and calls her special talent meaningless since Celestia was able to do the same thing. Luna's response is to beat him harder, escape his mind, and spend time isolated in her room.

* ''Fanfic/DragonAgeTheCrownOfThorns'' has the dwarven noble protagonist delivering one [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6072033/6/Dragon_Age_The_Crown_of_Thorns Chapter 5]], when he [[spoiler:is on trial and completely dominates the entire assembly, throwing Bhelen's pet nobles at each other and completing his epic ZeroApprovalGambit by destroying the focus of the gathering, which means that no one ever got around to questioning exactly why he didn't try to defend the innocence he'd so vehemently proclaimed earlier that day.]] The reason was because [[spoiler:he'd [[FakingTheDead faked Trian's death]] and ''wanted'' to be seen as the murderer.]] JustAsPlanned.

* In the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP]] fanfic ''Fanfic/TheRiseofDarthVulcan'', the titular protagonist is visited in his dreams by Princess Luna, where she roughs him up for his various crimes against Equestria. Vulcan's response is to laugh in her face and play on her insecurities, calling her nothing more than Celestia's goon and calls her special talent meaningless since Celestia was able to do the same thing. Luna's response is to beat him harder, escape his mind, and spend time isolated in her room.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' fan fiction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4657412/1/Operation_There_Is_No_Operation Operation: There Is No Operation]] KND Soopreme Leader Numbuh362/Rachel Mc Kenzie and the series BigBad Father are [[LockedInARoom imprisoned together]] and Father uses the situation to deliver a mock-sympathizing Hannibal Lecture about how she is NotSoDifferent from a parent like him.

The creeper starts out with a few seemingly-innocent questions about the interrogator's life or even appearance -- "Why did you go into law enforcement instead of medicine like you wanted?" or "Why aren't you married?" Then, the supposed loon asks more {{armor-piercing question}}s, which turn into comments, which turn into deconstructions, which turn into declarations about how the interrogator has failed in different ways. Pretty soon, the loon is doing all the interrogating and all the answering, with the poor 'interrogator' doing nothing but nodding their assent and crying.

The creeper starts out with a few seemingly-innocent questions about the interrogator's life or even appearance -- "why did you go into law enforcement instead of medicine like you wanted?" or "why aren't you married?" Then, the supposed loon asks more {{armor piercing question}}s, which turn into comments, which turn into deconstructions, which turn into declarations about how the interrogator has failed in different ways. Pretty soon, the loon is doing all the interrogating and all the answering, with the poor 'interrogator' doing nothing but nodding their assent and crying.

[[IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Hannibal Traven]] [[WizardingSchool hosting a lecture]].

* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (which [[OlderThanTheyThink pre-dates]] ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' by two years - but is predated by ''Red Dragon'', the first Hannibal book) has a classic "psycho prisoner out-psychs the psychiatrist" scene. The prisoner in question evades the standard psychiatric evaluation questions, giving false responses to such things as a Rorschach test. The psychiatrist is hopeful for his progress, until a few days later, when he asks the prisoner to give true statements this time... at which point, the prisoner relates the entire story of how he mentally snapped and became [[spoiler:Rorschach]], a story so horrifying that [[CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure the psychiatrist is left sitting stunned in his chair long after the prisoner is led out]].

%% * From [[spoiler:Sir [[SilenceOfTheLambs John Talbot]], appropriately enough]] in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''.