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Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.)
Will Graham
Agent William "Will" Graham
"There's been a lot of bullshit about the way I think."
Played By: Edward Norton
Appearances: Red Dragon
An FBI profiler responsible for the capture of serial killer Hannibal Lecter, and who is later assigned to capture serial killer Francis Dolarhyde.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Is far more well-adjusted and stable than other versions of the character.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: He figures out Lecter would be a good starting point to "enter" Dolarhyde's mind.
- FBI Agent: Or rather, FBI profiler.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
- Genre Blind: He falls for the "Have You Told Anyone Else?" ploy with Lecter while sharing his suspicions with him. In his defense, he was exhausted and considered Lecter a trusted colleague. He also fails to predict that Dolarhyde would attack Lounds instead of him from the slander they printed in the tabloids.
- Happily Married: To his wife, Molly, with whom he has a son. He's even able to share the details of his job with her.
- "Not So Different" Remark: The extent to which he's able to emphasize and understand disturbed killers causes him no end of inner turmoil. In particular he shares a kinship with Hannibal; they're both remarkably astute and able to read a person with expert precision, largely out of natural talent.Hannibal: Don't you understand, Will? You caught me because we're very much alike. Without our imaginations, we'd be like all those other poor... dullards. Fear... is the price of our instrument. But I can help you bear it.
- Photographic Memory: Flashes of scenes from the photographs while he's working suggests he can recall visual details that he wasn't even focusing on at the time he saw them.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: He's one of very few people to give this to the actual Hannibal. Graham doesn't engage with the usual quid pro quo, meager threats or verbal jousting that Hannibal tries to provoke.Hannibal: Do you dream much, Will?Graham: Goodbye, Dr. Lecter.Hannibal: You haven't threatened to take away my books yet! Give me the file, then!
- To Know Him, I Must Become Him: Graham is such an excellent profiler because he's able to truly get into the mindset of killers, understanding their thoughts and feelings (or lack thereof).Hannibal: You're able to assume the emotional point-of-view of other people, even those that scare or sicken you. It's a troubling gift, I should think. How I'd love to get you on my couch.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His whereabouts during The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are unknown, with his reaction to Lecter's escape in the former film unseen.
Clarice Starling
Agent Clarice Starling
"You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself?"
Played By: Jodie Foster (Silence), Julianne Moore (Hannibal) & Masha Skorobogatov (young, Silence)
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Hannibal
A young FBI agent sent to consult with the infamous Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
- Accent Slip-Up: Clarice is actively trying to shed her strong Southern accent out of insecurity and fear that she'll be perceived as a stereotypical rube. Julianne Moore sometimes has Clarice's accent and sometimes does not.
- Action Girl: Goes up against dangerous killers.
- Adaptational Heroism: Doesn't pull a Face–Heel Turn like in the novels, where she becomes Hannibal's willing lover.
- Alone with the Psycho: With frequency, due to the nature of her job. Of particular note is her encounter with Jame Gumb; she's entirely alone in a darkened basement trying to outmaneuver him when he clearly has the advantage.
- Ambiguously Gay: Has two male love interests in the books, one of them being Hannibal himself, but never becomes involved with either of them in the films and acts noticeably flirty with her roommate, Ardelia. note
- Animal Motif: Lambs, of course, but also birds and horses which bring to mind images of freedom or escape.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: The main plot of the films.
- Consummate Liar: It's rarely dwelt upon, but in The Silence of the Lambs, she lies to Hannibal Lecter's face and gets away with it until Chilton exposes her lies to Dr. Lecter.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Whereas Will Graham was a weary, experienced man who had a history with Hannibal Lecter, Clarice is a younger woman on her first assignment. Her relationship to Lecter is different - Lecter toys with both of them, but while he hated Graham, he seemed to respect Starling.
- Corrupt the Cutie: What Hannibal does to her, although she escapes mostly unscathed in. Silence of the Lambs, but this is essentially her whole arc in Hannibal.
- Country Mouse: At the beginning of Silence of the Lambs, and she is constantly afraid other people can see it and will just dismiss her. Some do.
- Daddy's Girl: She adored her father and is still devastated by his death years later.
- Determinator: Clarice hates bullies, and she will do whatever she can, no matter the circumstance, to avenge whatever crimes have been done.
- Failure Knight: With dead lambs forming the center of the story's central analogy.
- Fair Cop: Whether played by Jodie Foster or Julianne Moore, she's very attractive and men frequently hit on her.
- Farmer's Daughter: In her backstory, though it was technically her guardians after her father's death.
- FBI Agent: One of the most iconic representatives of the FBI in all of fiction.
- Fiery Redhead: Downplayed, but Clarice is very strong and determined, although not always as confrontational as most examples of this trope.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
- Friend on the Force: Somewhat reluctantly to Hannibal.
- Good Is Not Dumb: The most morally upstanding individual by far, and also one of the most intelligent characters.
- Knight in Sour Armor: By Hannibal she's become this.
- Morality Pet: She is one of the only people Lecter is good to.
- My Greatest Failure: She feels this way about the lambs she fails to save.
- Nice Girl: Undoubtedly kind and honorable, and the only outright heroic character, at least in the films.
- Southern-Fried Genius: She possess a keen insight, sharp intelligence and quick mind in addition to being pure West Virginian.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted. Her absence from Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising is due to them being prequels to The Silence of the Lambs, with Hannibal being the final film in chronological order.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: In Silence of the Lambs. It doesn't last.
- Worthy Opponent: Lecter considers her to be this. He's not even mad when she lies directly to his face, rather impressed. When Lecter escapes, she's not worried for a moment that he'd come after her.(to Ardelia mapp)"I can't explain it...he'd consider it rude."
Jack Crawford
Jack Crawford
"Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head."
Played By: Scott Glenn (Silence) & Harvey Keitel (Red Dragon) Foreign voice actors
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Red Dragon
Starling's mentor and the head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico.
- Adapted Out:
- The book's subplot about his terminally-ill wife Bella is excised from the film version of The Silence Of The Lambs.
- Because of the traumatic
Enforced Method Acting Scott Glenn went through in the filming of Silencenote , he refused to return. Crawford was written out of Hannibal and a deleted scene establishes that he died between movies (becoming a Death by Adaptation, Type 2), instead of near the end of the book. It's also the reason the role got recast with Harvey Keitel for Red Dragon.
- Badass Bookworm: As Hannibal recognizes when he sends him a John Donne poem, but he's also a fearsome and admired FBI agent.
- The Cassandra: Many of his warnings (specially for Clarice not to give into Hannibal's questions about her personal life) are ignored.
- Cynical Mentor: Clarice is a Wide-Eyed Idealist when in Silence of the Lambs, while Crawford is her embittered Foil.
- A Father to His Men: Especially to Starling: he struggles to look out for her, as he is sincerely concerned for her welfare.
- FBI Agent: His position.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
- Guile Hero: As befitting the severity of his position, Crawford needs to be manipulative at times, but it's almost always in service of justice.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Starling.
- Married to the Job: Notice the used pillow on the couch when Clarice walks into his office note .
- Not So Stoic: When he and his men break into the wrong house, he is clearly shocked, but also mentions one name in sheer worry.Crawford: Clarice!!!
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Played with. Starling is (understandably) concerned about some of his more manipulative tendencies, but he is genuinely concerned for her well being.
- Stoic Spectacles: Wears these in both films he's in.
Paul Krendler
Paul Krendler
"Jesus, Starling, are you writing a book or are you catching a crook?"
Played By: Ron Vawter (Silence) & Ray Liotta (Hannibal) Foreign voice actors
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Hannibal
Careerist Justice Department official with a vendetta against Starling.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Compare Vawter in Silence to Liotta in Hannibal.
- Adaptational Heroism: His more overt sexism and condescending attitude are mostly removed from Lambs, and a scene where he openly shows disgust at Lecter's creepy remarks towards Senator Martin is included. Of course, he's back to his normal slimeball self by Hannibal.
- Asshole Victim: Krendler goes out of his way to destroy Clarice not only because of the Buffalo Bill case (which she solved without his help) but over her rejecting his advances (twice). Then he colludes with Mason Verger to use her to lure Lecter into the boar trap.
- Autocannibalism: Hannibal feeds him his own brain.
- Brain Food: He has his own brain fed to him by Hannibal.
- Characterization Marches On: Evolves from a Flat Character in Silence of the Lambs to Clarice's nemesis in Hannibal.
- Deadpan Snarker: Always calls out Starling with a sarcastic jab.
- Dirty Cop: Plans to collect Verger's bounty on Lecter after using Clarice as bait.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He make's Starling's life a living hell for not only grand-slamming the Buffalo Bill case, but also he made a pass at Clarice which she rejected. Twice.
- FBI Agent: Unfortunately, he's Clarice's boss.
- Handsome Lech: At least in Hannibal.
- Jerkass: He doesn't give a damn about helping people. He just wants to be glorified as a hero and profit off an easy job.
- Karmic Death: His interference in the Buffalo Bill case, as noted by Crawford in a deleted scene in Silence, is what allowed Lecter to escape custody, which ultimately leads to Lecter killing him a decade later.
- Manipulative Bastard: Tricks Starling into going along with Verger's plan unwittingly.
- Oh, Crap!: When Lecter jumps him at his house.
- Only in It for the Money: He double crosses the government and works for Verger's side when paid with a lot of money.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He absolutely hates women and makes Starling's life hell for no better reason than sheer misogyny.
- Smug Snake: He thinks that he's such a smart guy, but Lecter breaks him down to size.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He's an Adaptational Nice Guy in Lambs and lacks the repugnant sexism he had in the novel. Hannibal depicts him as just as much of a Jerkass as his literary counterpart is.
Hayden Burke
FBI Director Hayden Burke
Played By: Roger Corman
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
"Jack, did you authorize one of your agents to make a phony offer to Lecter in the Senator's name?"
The director of the FBI.
- The Cameo: For Roger Corman.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, there's a Marquez Burke who appears in Hannibal with his partner Hare.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In his brief screentime, he comes off as being very willing to listen to his employees and respect their judgement.
Ardelia Mapp
Ardelia Mapp
Played By: Kasi Lemmons
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
- Adapted Out: Is absent from Hannibal, despite having returned in the novel.
- Black Best Friend: She's this for Clarice, at least for Silence of the Lambs.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most of her lines with Clarice show a dry sense of humor.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Starling appear to be this. However, the film implies that they're very close.
Clint Pearsall
Noonan
Other Law Enforcement
Bill Boyle
Lt. Bill Boyle
Played By: Charles Napier
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
A police officer who serves as one of Lecter's guards after Lecter is moved to Memphis.
- Ascended Extra: A minor case; he outranks Pembry in the film and does most of the talking for them, while in the book Pembry is in charge and Boyle is little more than a Red Shirt.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Boyle is first bludgeoned by Lecter with his own baton, and then crucified, eviscerated and hung from the bars of Lecter's cell.
- Dead Guy on Display: His body is hung up like an angel on Hannibal's cell.
- First-Name Basis: He and Pembry call each other "Bill" and "Jim" respectively.
- Gutted Like a Fish: His entrails are hanging out when he is found. Perhaps Hannibal wanted a snack for the road?
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his abrasive behavior, he still obeys Hannibal's request to mind his drawings, and makes a desperate attempt to warn Pembry when Hannibal escapes.
- Jerkass: He is uncooperative and passive-aggressive towards Starling and threatens to beat Lecter with his baton for mildly annoying him by asking for a second dinner.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The abrasive and gruff red to Pembry's polite and reserved blue.
- Those Two Guys: With Pembry.
- Too Dumb to Live: Uses a simple pair of handcuffs to detain Lecter. He pays dearly for this.
Jim Pembry
Sgt. Jim Pembry
Played By: Alex Coleman
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
A police officer who serves as one of Lecter's guards after Lecter is moved to Memphis.
- Adaptational Name Change: Called Jim in the film, even though his name tag identifies his initials as T. W. in the book.
- Dead Person Impersonation: A rather gruesome example. Lecter slices off Pembry's face and switches clothes with him so that he is mistaken for Pembry. By the time this has been discovered, Lecter is long gone.
- Facial Horror:
- Lecter slices off his face as part of his escape.
- Not only that, he was bitten hard enough to draw blood, then maced, and was given several more lacerations to his face so the EM Ts wouldn't bother to get a closer look to realize that it was really Hannibal wearing Pembry's face as a mask.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The (comparatively) polite and reserved blue to Boyle's gruff and abrasive red.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He gets little characterization or screen time, but Pembry is key to Lecter's escape.
- Those Two Guys: With Boyle.
Rinaldo Pazzi
Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi
Played By: Giancarlo Giannini
Appearances: Hannibal
- Animal Motifs: Pazzi washes the pickpocket's blood off his hands at a fountain shaped like a boar's head. The very next scene reveals Verger's intention to have Lecter Fed to Pigs.
- Anti-Villain: He wants to capture Hannibal Lecter for reward money, but mostly because he wants to provide a better life for his wife, and it's implied he doesn't feel respected at work. He does some very wrong things, but it's seemingly out-of-character, if nothing else.
- Butt-Monkey: Abused throughout the film.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: "Bowels in or bowels out, like Judas? I'll decide for you, if you'll permit me."
- Dirty Cop: Partners with Verger's henchmen to capture Lecter, eager to collect a $3 million bounty.
- Famous Ancestor: A descendent of the Pazzi family, rivals to the de Medici family.
- Hero Antagonist: Subverted. He begins as this, being a police officer trying to solve a murder and hunting a serial killer, but he crosses the line into Anti-Villain territory once he decides to try and collect the bounty on Lecter rather than do his job and arrest the man.
- Ironic Echo: Dies the same way and in the same location as his ancestor 500 years earlier. Invoked by Lecter who intentionally chose to kill him like this.
- Mugging the Monster: Compels a pickpocket to mug Lecter, in order to acquire a fingerprint.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Is said to have worked on the case of Il Mostro, a Real Life Serial Killer active in Florence in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in context this seems to be a different, still-at-large killer with the same title, possibly Lecter himself.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: And he's aware of it.
SWAT Commander
SWAT Commander
Played By: Chris Isaak
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
The commander of the SWAT team sent to recapture Lecter after he breaks out of his cell in Memphis.
- The Cameo: For Chris Isaak.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Calm and rational in a crisis.
Tate
Sgt. Tate
Played By: Danny Darst
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
The officer placed in charge of guarding Lecter once he is moved to Memphis.
Sheriff Perkins
Sheriff Perkins
Played By: Pat McNamara
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
The sexist, stern sheriff of Elk River.
Pascal Popil
Serial Killers
Hannibal Lecter
The Chesapeake Ripper (Dr. Hannibal Lecter)
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
Played By: Anthony Hopkins, Gaspard Ulliel (late teen/young adult, Hannibal Rising) & Aaran Thomas (8 years old, Hannibal Rising) Foreign voice actors
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Hannibal | Red Dragon | Hannibal Rising
"I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner!"
A serial killer with a fondness for eating his victims.
- Adaptational Karma: Unlike his book counterpart he ends his tenure in the films on the run and minus a hand.
- Affably Evil: Usually unfailingly polite… providing the company is polite in return. A common remark about the character and Hopkins' portrayal in particular is that Hannibal is so charming and witty that you'd happily have dinner with him, even at the risk of ending up on the menu.
- Anti-Villain: Type I - Although this depends largely on personal interpretation. His targets are usually people who are impolite, or those he feels in some way that their death would be a service to the population at large. But he is not above killing those who would try to capture him, prevent him from escaping capture, and when trying to secure a job in Florence, killing the man whose job he intends to take. His murders are exceptionally vicious, especially his "wound man" killing. That said, he is not without sympathetic qualities, and is a gracious, courteous host, unless you get on his bad side.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Was retconned into being Lithuanian aristocracy.
- Ax-Crazy: A particularly civilized example.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: At the end of Hannibal (film), Hannibal is forced to cut off either his own hand or Clarice’s with a kitchen knife to escape. He is shown bringing down the knife, followed by Clarice’s painful expression; the next scene shows she still has both hands, and the final scene shows Hannibal struggling to eat with one hand.
- Big Bad Friend: Acts like this in the opening for the Red Dragon movie, where he seems legitimately sad about attacking Graham, whom he honestly seemed to like. Apparently, he's a really sore loser, because when he and Graham meet again, it's pretty clear that he now hates the guy.
- Blade Enthusiast: He uses his knives for murder and cooking alike, and goes for blades whenever he can. Over the course of his life, he's made use of a wakizashi, a broken katana, a folding knife, and a karambit.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Lecter's personal ethics are bizarre. Murder, torture, cannibalism and mutilation are fine, but sexual assault and rudeness are punishable by death. What Lecter considers to be rude behavior is unclear as he himself insults, ignores and talks down to people. And murder could be seen as being pretty rude as well. Furthermore, his definition of evil is to defy the rules of society and he made the deliberate choice to be evil by rejecting societal norms.
- Boring, but Practical: He used a katana as a young man to torture and kill a man for insulting his aunt, but afterward stuck mostly to smaller, concealable weapons and traps.
- Boxed Crook: The FBI uses him to hunt down other serial killers.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is incarcerated, but still writes highly respected articles for psychiatric journals.
- But Not Too Evil: Oh, he's very evil, but there always seems to be at least one character – or more – who makes him look like a Noble Demon in comparison.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Much more so in the book than the movie. Dr. Lecter does not live in an obvious delusional fantasy (as Jame Gumb and Francis Dolarhyde do) and he rejects his Freudian Excuse (the death and consumption of his young sister). He derides psychology and behavioral sciences. He corrects Starling when she labels him as "destructive," telling her that he is most definitely evil.
- The Chessmaster: Orchestrated his own prison escape.
- Cold Ham: Lecter generally avoids large displays of emotion but his facial expressions and demeanor do more than enough to compensate.
- Combat Pragmatist: He bites a guard on the face, then pepper sprays him, then bludgeons the guard's fellow officer to death with a truncheon – an officer who is unarmed, and has his hands handcuffed to the cage bars. He then pauses to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach's The Goldberg Variations, recorded by Glenn Gould in 1955.
- Commonality Connection: Although he and Lady Murasaki are strangers when they first meet, they gradually bond over their mutual loss of family due to war, as they are now the only two surviving members. This is lampshaded by Inspector Popil.
- Cool Mask: A muzzle-like half mask is usually forced on him when captured, protecting those around him, but with the drawback of looking creepy as fuck. In the prequel Hannibal Rising, he briefly puts on a samurai menpō shaped like the mouth of an oni (a Japanese demon) as a Call-Forward to his imprisonment in the future.
- Creepy Monotone: Courtesy of Anthony Hopkins.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: By Hannibal they've gone away.
- Cultured Badass: Loves the beauty the world has to offer. And is able to murder damn near anyone who impedes his enjoyment of it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Born into an aristocratic Lithuanian family, he and his sister Mischa became orphans in WWII, and he witnessed her being butchered and eaten by the Nazis.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has a very dry wit, fitting with his cultured demeanor.
- Diabolical Mastermind: He's a clever manipulative genius.
- Dissonant Serenity: Lecter has an almost uncanny ability to stay calm while discussing or doing horrible things."His pulse never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue."
- The Dreaded: Dr. Lecter is one of the most dangerous criminals in the setting, and everyone with the slightest bit of sense treats him with well-justified caution.
- Due to the Dead: He buries Mischa's bones in her copper bathtub, and he leaves behind one of his mother's brooches as an offering.
- Dumbstruck: Hannibal as a young boy becomes mute after losing Mischa. He is so traumatized by the event that he only starts speaking again after he meets his aunt 8 years later.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Emphasized during his escape
◊. - Enemy Rising Behind: Does this.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Is royally pissed off that Pazzi sold him out to Verger. He gets even with him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Played with.
- He hunted down the men who cannibalized his sister, but given that he ate part of her himself, there's also a chance that he wanted to make sure there was no one alive who could reveal what he did.
- He fell in love with his Aunt Mirusaki as a youth and she's one of the few people he never hurt. That said, his love for her tragically did not overcome his dark nature, even when she offers herself to him as his lover.
- Downplayed, but he genuinely respects and cares for Agent Clarice and considers her a Worthy Opponent.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Is genuinely disgusted with Miggs, Mason, Chilton and Krendler. This is a major part of his character. He may be a murderer, a sadist and bit of an ass, but he can't stand exceptional rudeness or discourtesy or people who hurt or abuse children.
- Evil Cripple: At the end of Hannibal (film version), he severs his own hand to escape arrest, sparing Clarice the same fate. Although by this point he may or may not have gone through a Heel–Face Turn.
- Evil Genius: He's a serial killer and a genuinely brilliant psychologist who is also very well versed in art, literature, music and culinary arts, to say nothing of his skills as a manipulator and how he breaks out of prison.
- Evil Is Petty: The whole dinner and a show he had Graham arrange in exchange for his help was done all to piss Dr. Chilton off. Even Barney and another orderly laugh at it.
- Evil Tastes Good: Besides the obvious, in the novel he hurts Senator Martin with a line ("Toughened your nipples, didn't it?" in the movie), "takes a sip" of her pain and thinks it is delicious.
- Evil vs. Evil: When he goes up against Mason Verger and Grutas and his gang. He winds up coming off as the sympathetic party, since they’re just so awful.
- Failure Knight: He is haunted by his inability to protect Mischa.
- Faux Affably Evil: Lecter. He gets away with being both this and Affably Evil; Faux Affably Evil is for the people he's messing with. Or plans to eat, or serve. Or is eating or serving. Played straight when he is genuinely pissed off at a person.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
- First Love: Lady Murasaki is the first woman he falls in love with.
- Freudian Excuse: Initially this notion was defied by Lecter himself, saying that nothing happened to him but instead he happened, but thanks to retconning. His sister was fed to him by Nazi Cannibals when he was a child. As executed, it made everything else about Lecter mention by others (like Doemling) mesh better (and completed the Failure Knight analogy hinted at since the previous book), but the extension of it to a full story makes Lecter’s initial characterization as pure evil somewhat more ambiguous, as a few passages in Hannibal imply he resented his sister in addition to loving her and was actually inspired by her murder, feeling awe at the extent that evil can reach.
- Genius Bruiser: Hannibal is without a doubt brilliant, and is very physically capable, being able to murder Boyle and Pembry with sheer brute force, among other things.
- A God Am I:
- During his conversation with Will Graham in Red Dragon, he reveals this to be the root of his pathology.
- In Hannibal (film version), there is a recurring theme of comparing Hannibal to Jesus, complete with a Crucified Hero Shot and Pietà Plagiarism. The comparison, however, is not favorable: Hannibal compares Commendatore Pazzi to Judas for betraying him for avarice, and, by extension, himself to Jesus, forgetting that he himself, well, eats people.
- Hannibal Lecture: Trope Namer; he started the whole "freak out your interrogator with words" thing. Every film has him dishing these out like it's a normal activity.
- Harmful to Minors: Let's just say witnessing your sister being violently butchered and eaten alive is going to leave a mark.
- Hell Is That Noise: That creepy-ass hissing/slurping sound he makes after his census worker quote.
- Hollywood Atheist: Hannibal Rising depicts him as one, saying during a funeral service for his sister that he's glad that (he believes) there is no God or afterlife because he thinks non-existence is a better fate than being "made to kiss God's ass forever".
- I'm a Humanitarian: He's in prison because he eats people.
- Insufferable Genius: As Jack Crawford puts it to Starling, "He's very likely right, and he could have told you why, but he wanted to tease you with it. It's the only weakness I ever saw in him — he has to look smart, smarter than everybody. He's been doing it for years."
- I Was Quite a Looker: Hannibal Rising shows that he was a strikingly handsome young man with delicate, almost effeminate features, even if he was just as sadistic and evil back then.
- Karma Houdini: He is last seen escaping justice, albeit while missing a hand.
- Kick the Dog: He insults and taunts Senator Martin to the point of driving her to tears for no reason at all, except sadism.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: "'M' FOR MISCHA! 'M' FOR MISCHA! 'M' FOR MISCHA!"
- Kubrick Stare: This is his default expression when revving up the creepy.
- Large Ham: Of the Cold Ham variety. He's full of himself, always trying to intimidate, and Wicked Cultured. And it works so well it gave Anthony Hopkins an Oscar.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: At the end of Hannibal (film), after Hannibal locks her to the fridge, Clarice handcuffs him to herself as the police is on its way. He grabs a kitchen knife and threatens her with it, but ultimately cuts off his own hand to escape.
- Love Confession: He reveals to Lady Murasaki that he loves her, but she rejects him.Hannibal: I love you.
Lady Murasaki: What is left in you to love? - Manipulative Bastard: Orchestrated numerous evil plans throughout the film series.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He used to be a psychologist until he started eating his patients because they bored him.
- Narcissist: Is convinced of his superiority to everyone around him and doesn't mind telling them.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Requests an hour in private with the Tooth Fairy casefile, which includes gruesome crime scene photos. Will knows that most of the time was spent with the pictures. He is also morbidly fascinated with church collapses, medieval torture instruments and cannibalism. Hannibal (the novel) explicitly describes the pleasure he feels when he sees Starling consume the brain of Paul Krendler.
- Noble Demon: Grutas and his gang are so awful that they make Hannibal seem heroic in comparison.
- Nominal Hero: All of his victims in Hannibal Rising are war criminals, but Hannibal wants them to die for hurting his family.
- Not So Stoic: When Miggs throws his semen at Clarice, Lecter bellows down the hall at her. In the novel Clarice comments on how rare it is to see him agitated.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: More often than not, with his evil deeds such as eating humans, his victims do have it coming.
- Pet the Dog: For Clarice, but he is also genuinely fond of Barney and Sammie. Was also Knight Templar Big Brother to Mischa. During his final escape in the "Hannibal" film, he allows a little boy to taste a cooked piece of Krendler's brain, but only because the boy kept pestering him to allow him to taste it (despite the boy not knowing what it was), and Hannibal did initially warn the boy that he probably wouldn't like it. But as Lecter called him "an exceptional little boy", it is possible he saw something of himself in the lad, and wanted to connect with a kindred spirit.
- Pretty Boy: When played by Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Rising.
- Psycho Psychologist: Killed some of his patients who he couldn't help.
- Psychotic Smirk: Enjoys his kills because they usually deserve it.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the books, he is described as having maroon (brownish-red) eyes. He appears with bright red eyes in some posters for Hannibal and Hannibal Rising.
- Red Right Hand: Lecter has a sixth finger on his right hand, as well as maroon eyes that appear red in bright light.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He goes on one in Hannibal Rising against all of the men who murdered his beloved baby sister.
- Sadist: It is strongly implied that most of his victims were tortured to death in various elaborate and particularly gruesome fashions; beyond that, he is a Manipulative Bastard par excellence who messes with people's heads and gives them cutting Hannibal Lectures For the Evulz.
- Serial Killer: Killed nine people in his initial rampage and critically wounded two others (one survivor was Mason Verger, the other is in a mental institution).
- Shipped in Shackles: Lecter, with his iconic mask, is the Trope Codifier. Many franchises have imitated the image as shorthand to indicate Lecter-inspired characters.
- Small Role, Big Impact: In Red Dragon. He was a minor character in the book and has limited screen time in the movie when compared to his other appearances, but he is a major force in moving the story forward.
- The Sociopath: Subverted as Lecter is capable of empathy, however warped.
- Sociopathic Hero: In Hannibal and Hannibal Rising.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: He almost never raises his voice above normal speaking level but every word he says practically drips with sadism and cruelty.
- Stalker with a Crush: Definitely counts in relation to Starling.
- The Stoic: Taken to extremes during his rare acts of violence. When he brutally attacked a nurse, which involved breaking her jaw to get to her tongue, his pulse never got above 85 bpm. Even during his escape he mostly looks bored (save for one brief second where he wears a terrifying Slasher Smile).
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Hannibal Lecter, M.D. and don't you forget it. Did you know Dr. Chilton has no medical degree?
- Timeshifted Actor: The younger version of the character is played by Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas in Hannibal Rising.
- Tragic Keepsake: In Hannibal Rising, he has photographs of his family, Mischa's teddy bear, his mother's letters and pearl necklaces.
- Troll: The Dinner and A Show scene in Red Dragon was all just to tick off Dr. Chilton for removing his books and toilet seat. This antic caused the normally stoic Barney and a fellow orderly to laugh.
- Undying Loyalty: To Mischa. He had made a promise to his sister's memory that he would avenge her death, and absolutely nothing, not even his aunt (who he does love), can dissuade him from carrying out his goal.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Lady Murasaki. She does suggest becoming his lover in an attempt to guide him away from his path of murder and revenge, but he rejects her.
- Clarice Starling. He subtly propositions her before his escape in the Hannibal film, but she steadfastly turns him down. This actually increases his admiration for her.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Before World War II, he was a cute and caring child.
- Villain Protagonist: In Hannibal and Hannibal Rising (although in the latter he's more of a Noble Demon and Nominal Hero).
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Lecter speaks with a weird blend of American and European accents that is very difficult to place.
- Wicked Cultured: His pathology is centered around this trope, as he eats (and serves) his victims as exquisite meals, apparently to prove how much better he is than them; or, in Starling's words, "show his disdain for those who exacerbate him" (or, sometimes, to perform a "public service"). Apart from this, and a more general love of fine dining and drink, he enjoys classical music, is a highly talented artist, and has sufficient knowledge of Dante, the Renaissance and Renaissance literature to get a temp job as a library curator at a Florentine museum, and impress the board enough to nearly make it permanent.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His idyllic life was shattered when his parents were murdered and he and his little sister were abducted by German deserters who ate his sister and fed him some of her in a broth. No wonder he's Ax-Crazy.
- Worthy Opponent: He considers Will Graham to be this, even after his incarceration.
- By the end of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, he definitely considers Clarice Starling as one.
Francis Dolarhyde
The Tooth Fairy (Francis Dolarhyde)
"Before me, you rightly tremble. But, fear is not what you owe me. You owe me awe!"
Played By: Ralph Fiennes & Alex D. Linz (young)
Appearances: Red Dragon
"I am not a man. I began as one, but now I am becoming more than a man, as you will soon witness."
- Abusive Parent: He used to live with his grandmother who would frequently verbally abuse him over the most minor things. She once threatened to castrate him for wetting his bed.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the novel, Francis is self-aware of his cleft palate and rarely interacts with others due to fear of being ridiculed over it. However, in the movie Francis looks like a handsome man despite his cleft palate, thanks to Ralph Fiennes' portrayal.
- Affably Evil: Surprisingly despite the fact that he is a family annihilator. But it is his psychosis that is the prime reason for his murders; other than that, he is a shy little man and is shown to be caring of Reba and refuses to kill her even if his voices tells him to, showing that he is capable of having feelings for others.
- Ax-Crazy: Subverted and then played straight. While his crime scenes of whole families slaughtered are viewed as the work of a deranged madman, Graham insists that he was in control of every action, and knew precisely what he was doing. Played straight at the end, where Graham manipulates Dolarhyde's past abuse as a child to work him into a blind frenzy.
- Big Bad: Of Red Dragon.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: He sees his murders as gradual personal transformations, which will make him become a superhuman monster.
- Body Paint: Has an elaborate reproduction of the "Red Dragon" artwork on his back.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Out of all the incredibly horrible deaths depicted in the "Hannibal Lecter" mythos, being bitten to death (as Dolarhyde threatens to do to Reba) has to rank near the top.
- Destroy the Abusive Home: He burns down the house he was raised and horribly abused in as part of his plan to fake his own death.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He really cares about Reba. Although a part of him want to kill her he becomes reluctant and goes into a sinister breakdown.
- Evil Is Hammy: When he's in full-on Dragon mode. Also qualifies as Not So Stoic, since it's a stark departure from the quiet, socially awkward person he usually is.
- Faking the Dead: Stages a scenario where he makes his blind lover Reba thinks he has killed himself, so that she can relate this to Will Graham and the FBI. This leaves him free to seek vengeance against the "gumshoe" who has been persecuting him.
- Fluffy the Terrible: He's a terrifying, vicious murderer who is nicknamed "the Tooth Fairy" and is legally named Francis.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: In the second movie based on the book ("Red Dragon"), his military training is slightly emphasized in a way not seen in Manhunter or even the novel where it's an explicit part of his backstory and previous life; Lecter tells Graham to look for military training.
- Freudian Excuse: Not as elaborated on as in the books, but the audience is treated to both an audio flashback of his grandmother threatening to castrate him for wetting the bed, and Graham's sympathetic comments upon reading the journal that Francis described his childhood in.
- Genius Bruiser: Despite his body builder physique and strength, Dolarhyde takes his time to study his victims and meticulously plan his invasions, rather than brute force his way.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: His relationship with Reba brings this out in him—rather than referring to himself as the Dragon, he starts begging it to let her live, and attempts to stop killing. He only partially succeeds, as towards the climax he seems to prefer murdering himself and Reba with a shotgun rather than let the Dragon "bite her to death". In the end, this all turns out to be a scheme to fake his death so that he can later murder the Graham family.
- In-Series Nickname: Most (if not all) of his co-workers at Chromalux refer to him as "Mister D". Even Reba mostly calls him that, even after they become close.
- Kick the Morality Pet: His attempt at shooting Reba to "save" her from a worse fate. Thankfully he is unable to do so.
- Love Makes You Crazy: A subverted example- at the start of the film he is an unrepentant mass murder. But after meeting Reba he starts to question his life path and tries to go... sane.
- Made of Iron: It takes several gunshots from Will and Molly Graham to finally finish him off.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Shooting Ralph Mandy (after seeing him with Reba) might count as this, despite him not being a real rival for Reba's affections.
- Pet the Dog: His whole relationship with Reba. He is (usually) very affectionate and patient with her, and definitely enjoys her company. He even arranges a special outing where she can encounter and pet a tranquilized tiger, all because she casually mentioned not remembering what a certain animal was like from her youth. And of course, near the climax, despite incessant urging from "the Red Dragon", he cannot bring himself to sacrifice Reba to him.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Is the only major serial killer in the Hannibal mythos who is documented as having sexually violated not only one, but many women.
- Red Right Hand: Deconstructed. His cleft palate subjected him to severe abuse as a child, which is part of what eventually drove him to become a killer. He's still sensitive about it in his adulthood. The scarring remaining on his lip after years of surgery is a downplayed example.
- Serial Killer: He targets whole families, although his principal victims are always the mothers in them (the ones he chooses to "change").
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: Watching comely females featured in the Chromalux home videos (coupled with his horrifically abusive upbringing) combine to make him the monster he is.
- Shout-Out: The suit he wears when he goes to eat the original "Red Dragon" painting is an echo of William Petersen's suit in Manhunter.
- Sinister Nudity: Often seen nude around his house... and at the houses of his victims. This tendency reaches its logical conclusion when he kidnaps Freddy Lounds as punishment for badmouthing him in the tabloid press: as part of Dolarhyde's grand reveal of his "Red Dragon" persona, he strips naked to reveal the tattoo of William Blake's The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed With The Sun on his back... and by flexing his back muscles, he makes it look as if the dragon is alive. This incident ends with Dolarhyde biting off Freddy's lips and setting him on fire.
- Split Personality: Whether he feels there was a split before or after Reba isn't made clear, but he eventually starts referring to his serial killer "Red Dragon" persona as a separate person.
- The Stoic: His default mode. Neither his voice or his facial expressions betray any emotion.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Despite his severe psychosis and relatively minor mouth scar, he looks like just a normal, everyday guy who just happens to work out a lot.
- Would Hit a Girl: Murders several women in the course of raping them. Also kills pre-teen girls.
- Would Hurt a Child: Has no problems killing children along with the whole family, and even threatens to kill Josh, Will Graham's son. Zig-Zagged, as he when Will starts verbally abusing Josh reminiscent of Francis' own grandmother, he starts becoming more protective of Josh, remembering his own childhood.
- Yandere: His affections for Reba spiral seriously beyond control.
Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill (Jame Gumb)
"You don't know what pain is!"
Played By: Ted Levine
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
"It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
A serial killer who murders overweight women and skins them so he can make a "woman suit" for himself.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The novel makes a point of outlining all the work he's had done to appear more feminine before mentioning it hasn't really worked in service to that purpose, and that he's still a tall, meaty guy in spite of it. In the film, he's naturally more svelte and almost handsome in appearance, with his long, curly hair the only outward clue to his true self-image.
- Adaptation Distillation: He gets a lot of background and development in the book, all of which is cut from the film.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Zig-zagged between this and Adaptational Villainy. During a scene in his basement, we see that he has a swastika-patterned quilt spread out on his bed. Whatever Bill's many, many flaws, not once did the novel ever indicate that he was a racist (although it may be a rare modern example of the Non-Nazi Swastika, the swastika being a prominent symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, tying in with his obsession with reincarnation and rebirth). However, while he's hardly a good person in either medium, the movie also shows him struggling to suppress his empathy for Catherine, and doesn't indicate that he's killed anyone but these young women for their skin (approximately 5-6) and presumably Mrs. Lippman. In the book, his first murder was of his grandparents at age 12, he'd accrued outstanding warrants for viciously assaulting gay men, and before beginning this spree, he'd been recreationally killing women for years.
- Animal Motif: Moths, in particular the Death's Head Moth, which he sees as symbolic of himself.
- Anti-Villain: Doesn't actually seem to like holding people captive very much. However, see Becoming the Mask below.
- Becoming the Mask: The newspaper cutouts around his lair suggest that while he may not find kidnapping and murder satisfying in and of themselves, he does enjoy his notoriety as Buffalo Bill greatly. Also in contrast, his stalking of Clarice is sadistic in nature and he clearly relishes the power he has over her in the dark.
- Berserk Button: Don't hurt or threaten his beloved dog Precious. And when he tells you to "rub the lotion on it's skin", you damn well better do it.
- Big Bad: Of The Silence of the Lambs.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Doesn't really seem to take pleasure in the suffering of the victims in his well... he just wants the completed suit more.
- Chubby Chaser: A horrific version. He deliberately targets fat women, and at first the cops think he has some kind of sexual proclivity for them. Clarice and Hannibal eventually realize that it isn't a fetish: rather, since he's using his victims' skin for suits, he needs larger women because they provide more raw material for him.
- The Collector of the Strange: Even leaving aside that he keeps the skins of his victims to make a woman suit, he has a bizarre collection of random memorabilia such as a Swastika-emblazoned quilt.
- Complexity Addiction: Doesn't really need to cock his personal firearm to use it against Clarice, but does so anyway. It gets him killed.
- Consummate Liar: Downplayed. He's very good at the basic Wounded Gazelle Gambit, and his poker face when confronted with an inquisitive FBI agent on his doorstep is wrought of iron. However, his inquisitiveness about the murders is one of the things that keys Clarice's detective sense in that something isn't right.
- Creepy Crossdresser: The Trope Codifier.
- The Dreaded: He becomes this due to his crimes, a fact he seems to quite enjoy.
- Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Dehumanizes his female victims, yet wants desperately to become a woman.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Genuinely loves his pet poodle to the point where he all but has a breakdown when Catherine holds her prisoner, and is willing to sacrifice the skin and hair he covets so much to ensure her safety.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He has Ted Levine's impressive deep voice and is the main villain of the film.
- Freudian Excuse: Alluded to. Hannibal himself states "Buffalo Bill wasn't born a criminal; he was made one by years of systematic abuse."
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He began life a foster kid with an alcoholic mother who was passed through various homes and was later just a regular guy in a small town in the midwest and is now a feared serial killer who has the whole country looking for him.
- Genuine Human Hide: His ultimate goal is to make a woman suit out of real women. Look really closely at his hairline when he's dancing around naked wearing female makeup in the "Goodbye Horses" scene, and note the jagged edges of flesh. Earlier in the movie in the autopsy scene they mention in passing that he scalped his last victim. He scalped her, with the hair still attached to the flesh, tanned out the inside, and he is literally wearing a woman's severed scalp like a wig.
- Guys are Slobs: His house and basement lair alike are filled with several lifetimes' worth of junk and are incredibly unkempt.
- Hand Cannon: His firearm of choice is huge.
- Kick the Dog: Mocking Catherine's hysterical screams of terror as she finds the fingernail of a previous victim. Actually an Exploited Trope as he seems to know the situation is messed up, but is desperate not to have any sympathy for her.
- Lack of Empathy: Subverted. He desperately wants to have this, but he has to dehumanize his victims in order to kill them, cares about his dog, and has a flash of guilt while Catherine pleads for help.
- Morality Pet: He deeply loves his dog, Precious.
- Mysterious Past: Unlike in the novel, we never learn the exact circumstances of his origins, or how he came to reside in Mrs. Lippman's house.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Buffalo Bill.
- Noodle Incident: Has a decomposing corpse encased in plaster in his basement, as well as a fish tank full of green liquid containing what are either mannequin components or body parts. Whether either of these are germane to his skinning operation are never made clear.
- Pet the Dog: Literally as he adores his poodle Precious and will fly into a rage if she's hurt and is even willing to let Catherine go just to get her back.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Implied Trope. While he never espouses any bigoted views, for some reason he keeps a bedspread covered in swastikas inside his Creepy Basement. He only targets women within his own ethnic group, but Starling notes that this is typical behavior for serial killers.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Never deals out any sort of unnecessary physical harm to his victims— no point in risking capture only to destroy the skin one hopes to harvest, after all. His kidnappings being limited to larger women is also done for utilitarian purposes (more material to work with) and initially confounds investigators, who assume a more pathological bent to his selection process.
- Psychopathic Manchild: His emotionally disturbed nature is very palpable in his more fraught interactions with Katherine. And he talks to his pet poodle in a manner more akin to a child rather than an adult.
- Serial Killer: A mission-oriented one, kidnapping and skinning women as a means to an end. There's also the hapless occupant of his basement's bathtub to contend with… Lecter implies that he also killed his lover, Benjamin Raspail.
- Sissy Villain: Downplayed from the novel, as while it's a cornerstone of his motivation to be more effeminate, he's pretty good at hiding everything about it except his longer-than-usual hair whenever he's out and about.
- The Sociopath: Averted. He desperately wants to portray himself as this and turn himself into one, but he can't stop himself from empathizing with Catherine and her pleas for mercy.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: A tailor by trade making himself a woman suit.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The terrifying serial killer who has the eastern United States on high alert is… a pretty unremarkable-looking guy out in the boondocks of rural Ohio.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Catherine manages to capture Precious, he degenerates into an explosive, inarticulate rage.
- Villainous Widow's Peak: He's balding and so has this look.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Bill collects his victims by acting as a handicapped person lifting a heavy object, then bludgeoning them to unconsciousness when they drop their guard, a favored tactic of real-life serial killers such as Ted Bundy.
Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane Staff & Inmates
Frederick Chilton
Dr. Frederick Chilton
"Oh my, does he hate us. Thinks I'm his nemesis."
Played By: Anthony Heald
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Red Dragon
Director of the hospital and Lecter's de facto jailer.
- Adaptational Dumbass: In the book, Hannibal acquired his makeshift lockpick in a similar fashion to the movie, just years earlier from an unnamed visitor. Since that wouldn't work as well in a visual medium, here Chilton is directly responsible for Hannibal getting his hands on the pen.
- Adaptational Heroism: The movie removed many of his Kick the Dog moments. In the novel he says that Clarice is sleeping with Crawford to advance her career, tells Lecter that if he doesn't reveal Buffalo Bill's identity they'll send him to an institution where he'll be tortured and raped, is openly dismissive of Boyle and Pembry and tries to blame Clarice for Lecter's escape.
- Arch-Enemy: Subverted. Chilton smugly tells Clarice that Lecter considers him one. The truth is Lecter regards Chilton as little more than a nuisance.
- Asshole Victim: Considering that his behavior not only obstructed the Buffalo Bill investigation but put Clarice and Catherine in danger, the idea of Lecter exacting vengeance upon Chilton is both scary and gratifying.
- Bullying a Dragon: Towards a Serial Killer, no less. He's smart enough to put Lecter in restraints first, but it's still monumentally dumb considering how much of an Evil Genius he knows Lecter is.
- Death by Adaptation: While his death is implied to the point of almost directly stating it in the film ("The Silence of The Lambs"), in the book he's under guard by the FBI and Hannibal can only send him a threatening letter promising retribution at some point in the future. Of course, by Hannibal, he's been bumped off anyway.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hannibal shows us that he had a fiancee who greatly misses him. Of course, this makes him hitting on Clarice even sleazier.
- Failed a Spot Check: As Clarice's Threshold Guardian, Chilton goes through all of the hospital's security measures concerning Lecter, specifically banning pencils and pens from Lecter's cell. The reason Lecter escapes is because Chilton has left his own pen in the cell.
- It's All About Me: Chilton has no interest in uncovering the secrets of Hannibal's mind to further the field of psychiatry or possibly help unveil Buffalo Bill's identity; he just wants to get famous for writing a book about him.
- Jerkass: Makes a sleazy pass at Clarice? Check. Frequently taunts the Evil Genius? Check. Illicitly records Clarice's conversations with Lecter, leaks the FBI's deal with Lecter, then hogs the spotlight as the plan's brainchild? Check. Puts both Clarice and Catherine Martin at the mercy of Buffalo Bill in the process? Check. Becomes the only character in the story that we want Hannibal to kill horribly? Checkola.
- Karmic Death: "I do wish we could chat longer Clarice, but I'm having an old friend for dinner."
- Lack of Empathy: Perfectly willing to risk lives if it makes him feel important.
- Manipulative Bastard: Though not very good at it.
- M.D. Envy: Not actually a doctor.
- Only in It for the Money: All Chilton cares about is getting famous by writing a book about Hannibal.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Chilton's ego is far greater than his actual competence.
- Smug Smiler: Chilton is perpetually giving a self-assured smirk reinforcing how smug and arrogant he is.
- Smug Snake: Chilton is smug, arrogant, and overconfident about his almost nonexistent intelligence.
- Threshold Guardian: For Clarice. His smug attitude and come-ons are mixed with genuine warnings about Lecter's true nature, foreshadowing how Clarice has to deal with politics, misogyny, and disturbing violence in her chosen career.
- Too Dumb to Live: Constantly bullying and taunting Lecter. Sure, he was locked up, but did Chilton really believe he wouldn't seize his first opportunity for payback once he escapes?
Barney Matthews
Barney Matthews
Played By: Frankie Faison
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs | Hannibal | Red Dragon
An orderly who supervises Lecter.
- Almighty Janitor: Probably the most intelligent orderly at the asylum.
- Animal Lover: He's shown nursing a wounded bird back to health in Hannibal.
- Collector of the Strange: Hannibal reveals that he has been secreting items associated with Lecter, so that he can sell them later.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Barney plays second fiddle to Chilton, but he's the most aware how dangerous Hannibal is. Tellingly, Hannibal only gets anywhere when Barney isn't monitoring him. Barney treats Hannibal with respect and dignity, but knows full well how dangerous he is and ensures he remains locked up.
- Morality Pet: For Lecter, who likes Barney and treats him with courtesy.
- Nice Guy: You have to be one hell of a likable person for Hannibal Lecter to take a positive shine to you, which does not involve being manipulative.
- Threshold Guardian: For Clarice, in a much kinder way than Chilton – he reassures her both of the dangers she faces, and that she is up to the challenge.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Starling questions why he sold information to Mason Verger on Hannibal. He admits that he wanted money, but he's not a bad guy.
- Worthy Opponent: Lecter, who shows immense respect for Barney's courtesy, professionalism, and devotion to keeping him behind bars, appears to view him as this. Tellingly, Hannibal only succeeds in escaping when Barney isn't one of the ones monitoring him.
Multiple Miggs
Multiple Miggs (I. J. Miggs)
"I bit my wrist… so I can diiiieee!"
Played By: Stuart Rudin
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
A patient at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He occupied the cell next to Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
- All Men Are Perverts: A quick glance at Clarice is all he needs to get heated up.
- Driven to Suicide: Hannibal spends an entire night whispering not-so-sweet nothings into Miggs' cell, driving him to kill himself.
- Pervert Revenge Mode: Played with, in so much it is not the target who seeks vengeance, but another party who seeks to avenge her honor. His disgusting act against Clarice not only compels Hannibal Lecter to assist the FBI trainee in her investigation, but he also compels the offender to take his own life.
- Perverted Sniffing: Claims to be able to smell Clarice's "femaleness".
- Small Role, Big Impact: He has very little presence, but his poor treatment of Starling irritates Hannibal enough that he invites Clarice back for a further consultation just to make up for it. If it weren't for Miggs' and his philosophy of self-love and sharing, many of the events of the film would not have occurred.
Verger Estate
Mason Verger
Mason Verger
"When the fox hears the rabbit scream he comes a-runnin'... but not to help."
Played By: Gary Oldman
Appearances: Hannibal
The billionaire owner of a meatpacking company and Lecter's only surviving victim prior to his imprisonment. A child molester who evaded prison thanks to his political connections, he was sentenced instead to court-mandated therapy with Dr. Lecter, who disfigured and crippled him during a session.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Downplayed, insofar as he's still a quadriplegic. However, in the book, Mason required a ventilator to breathe, was completely bedridden, and needed a special device to keep his lidless eyeball moist. In the movie, he can get around with a wheelchair, as well as being able to breathe, speak, and see unaided.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Very much downplayed. Much like his book version, he used to be a savage child molester before his disfigurement and paralysis, but several of his other despicable traits and behaviors were written out. Since his sister Margot doesn't appear in the film, there's no backstory of his incestuous rape of her, there's no backstory of him volunteering to torture political prisoners for Idi Amin, nor are we shown how the now-paralyzed Mason torments orphan children psychologically so that their tears can be collected and mixed into cocktails.
- Asshole Victim: He's understandably outraged at what Hannibal did to him, but there's little doubt he deserved all of it.
- Bad Boss: To his underlings, particularly the much-belittled Cordell.
- Big Bad: Of Hannibal.
- Collector of the Strange: As part of his obsession with Hannibal, he collects memorabilia connected to him like his infamous mask.
- Composite Character: Like Buffalo Bill before him, Verger combines elements of a few Real Life cases. There was an actual incident of a man cutting his own face off and feeding it to dogs while under the influence of drugs and his use of pigs to dispose of bodies invokes the notorious Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton. His molesting children at a camp he founded and using his wealth to get away with it recalls the persistent, though never proven, allegations against Michael Jackson (who incidentally also had a hideously mutilated mass of scar tissue for a face).
- Dark Lord on Life Support: He's been hooked up to multiple machines and is confined to a wheelchair, but still acts as the Big Bad of the film.
- Deadpan Snarker: Always point out how stupid his underlings are.
- Depraved Bisexual: Before his disfigurement, Verger was explicitly a pedophile who targeted children of both sexes, and tried to seduce Hannibal himself.
- Eaten Alive: He gets Fed to Pigs after being betrayed by Cordell.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Villainous example. He throws around his money on sick things for his own entertainment.
- Evil Cripple: Even from a chair, he still gets off on emotionally abusing children and plotting revenge.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Jokes about how he will torture Lecter and even about disfiguring himself.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Courtesy of Lecter's torture on him.
- Evil Old Folks: For an old man stuck in a wheelchair he's the sickest character in the film series.
- Eviler than Thou: Hannibal looks like a good guy in comparison to him. Tells you all you need to know.
- Facial Horror: As you can see in the image, Hannibal brutally disfigured him and left him with a Nightmare Face.
- Faux Affably Evil: Puts on the guise of a kind, rich business man, but he's really a sadistic monster who seeks revenge on another sicko.
- Fed to Pigs: His ultimate fate, which he intended to inflict upon Lecter.
- Gonk: Though it's because of Lecter's torture on him, but he's horribly disfigured and monstruously ugly.
- Hate Sink: He's a disgusting child molester. He makes 'Hannibal the Cannibal' look like the lesser of two evils.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Eaten by the pigs he wanted to feed Lecter to.
- Idle Rich: He was born into great wealth, which gives him the time to develop his sadistic habits.
- It's All About Me: His whole motivation for punishing Hannibal (which involves corrupting one FBI agent and destroying the reputation and career of another) is not because Lecter's a cannibalistic serial killer, but because of what's been done to him personally.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Had a charming appearance that he used to gain the confidence of the children he molested. Hannibal made sure no child would ever want to go near Mason ever again.
- Jerkass: He treats everyone in the movie, including his own men, like shit.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: He got away with molesting children, but Hannibal decided to punish him for it. However, he survives Hannibal's attack and spends at least 20 years plotting his revenge. Too bad Lecter is a Manipulative Bastard who outsmarts him.
- Karmic Death: Eaten by the boars he planned to feed Hannibal to.
- Large Ham: What else did you expect from Gary Oldman?
- Manipulative Bastard: Devises the whole plot of Hannibal so he can get revenge.
- A Man of Wealth and Taste: Only pays for the best if he finds it pleasing.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Not by choice, since he can't move.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Many of Mason Verger's traits are loosely based on those of Michael Jackson - both are acused pedophiles who used an entertainment venue (a summer camp for Verger, Neverland for Jackson) to prey on children, and both used their vast wealth and influence to beat the charges. Additionally, both Verger and Jackson had hideously mutilated masses of scar tissue in place of faces, and both were avid recreational drug users and keepers of unusual exotic pets. Even Verger's name "Mason" seems like a contraction of the first and last names of his celebrity model.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: His whole plan is to do this to Lecter.
- Psychopathic Manchild: His exact age is uncertain thanks to the scar tissue, though he's at least old enough to have grey hair, but his demeanour often swings toward the childishly sadistic, and in his grumpier moods he comes across as an entitled teenager more than anything else.
- Revenge Before Reason: He lets his obsession with Hannibal cloud his judgment and is killed by one of his own men because he disregarded his safety.
- Rich Jerk: Uses his money to influence others and spend on his revenge plan.
- Sadist: Loves harming children and plans to make Hannibal suffer being Eaten Alive slowly.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Used his family's connections to avoid going to prison for child molestation, instead getting court-mandated therapy.
- The Sociopath: Disregards the lives of others in his agenda for vengeance.
- Smug Snake: He thinks that he's above Hannibal and will be the one to defeat him.
- Stalker without a Crush: Obsessed over getting Hannibal Lecter so he could get swift vengeance on him.
- Viler New Villain: The main antagonist of the second film and a far worse person than Buffalo Bill.
- Would Hurt a Child: His past involves him molesting children.
Cordell Doemling
Dr Cordell Doemling
"One's eyes adjust to the darkness."
Played By: Željko Ivanek
Appearances: Hannibal
- Adaptational Heroism: He's Only in It for the Money in the book, and is implied at one point to have molested children; in the film, he's a Punch-Clock Villain who eventually makes a turn to good.
- Butt-Monkey: Mason treats him with the most disdain.
- Composite Character: Cordell and Doctor Doemling are separate characters in the novel; he also takes upon Margot Verger's role of killing Mason.
- The Dog Bites Back: Kills Verger after suffering too much mistreatment from him.
- The Dragon: To Mason Verger who he takes care of.
- Minion with an F in Evil: He's not as evil as Verger wants him to be.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Verger's poor treatment of him caused Cordell to strike back.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He agrees to be The Dragon to Verger despite only being his physician.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He's not really evil, but if it weren't for Verger's paychecks he would be out of there.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the book, Margot smashes his skull in with a hammer. Since Margot was adapted out, he gets to live.
- What You Are in the Dark: Throws his patient, Mason Verger, to the pigs when Hannibal tells him that he will take the fall. It's a downplayed example, given what an awful human Mason is.
Grutas's Gang
In General
- Asshole Victim: Every last one of them.
- Les Collaborateurs: Lithuanians who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Vladis Grutas
Vladis Grutas
Played By: Rhys Ifans
Appearances: Hannibal Rising
The leader of a group of cannibalistic Lithuanian war criminals who helped kill and eat Lecter’s sister during World War II.
- Big Bad: Of Hannibal Rising.
Petras Kolnas
Enrikas Dortlich
Other Characters
Roden & Pilcher
Roden & Pilcher
Played By: Dan Butler & Paul Lazar
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
- Horny Scientist: Pilcher tries to awkwardly flirt with Clarice. Roden is a little more professional.Starling: Are you hitting on me, doctor?Pilcher: Yes.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Inverted; Pilcher's flirtations are presented as much less awkward and more welcomed by Clarice in the book. In fact, the book ends with Clarice taking him up on an invitation to his family's summer home.
- Those Two Guys: They're only seen together.
Catherine Martin
Catherine Martin
Played By: Brooke Smith
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
- Damsel out of Distress: She spends much of the film in Buffalo Bill's well, although she's more proactive in escape attempts than the usual damsel. She manages to trick his dog into the well and holds it hostage to try and bargain for her life.
- Determinator Although spending days in the well, malnourished and slowly losing her mind, she doesn't lose her fight. She even managed to bring Precious down as a bargaining chip against Buffalo Bill.
- Inelegant Blubbering: The first time we see her after she was kidnapped, she's sobbing that "I want to see my mommy again" in a desperate, ugly and heartbreaking manner.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She never thought helping a crippled man move his chair would end with her being thrown down a well, hosed, forced to rub lotion on herself and nearly get slaughtered and skinned.
- Shoot the Dog: She was willing to kill a dog, but is understandably under a lot of stress at that point. She also whispers to the dog that she won't actually hurt it — she's just trying to convince Gumb that she will.
Sen. Ruth Martin
Senator Ruth Martin
Played By: Diane Baker
Appearances: The Silence of the Lambs
- Mama Bear: Her own daughter is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill. Consequently, she uses every power at her disposal to rescue her, including making a deal with Lecter.
- Put on a Bus: She has left office by Hannibal, with a news broadcast referring to her as a former senator.
Reba McClane
Reba McClane
"If there's anything I hate worse than pity, it's fake pity."
Played By: Emily Watson
Appearances: Red Dragon
A blind woman who strikes up a romance with Francis Dolarhyde.
- Blind and the Beast: Francis Dolarhyde falls in love with her partly because she's blind and can't see his harelip, although it's strongly implied that most women he knew were attracted to him already. He just thinks of his harelip as being a much greater problem than it actually is.
- Break the Cutie: Her final meeting with Dolarhyde has him put a shotgun up to her face, making sure she can feel for it and know exactly what he's pointing at her, and then while she's tearfully begging for him not to kill her, he tricks Reba into thinking he's committed suicide before leaving her to escape his burning house alone. All things considered,
she handles it better than most people would. - Cruel and Unusual Death: Dolarhyde tries to save Reba from this (being bitten to death by "The Red Dragon") by shooting her in the face. He can't bring himself to do it.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Averted. While blind, she is otherwise portrayed as a relatively normal person. She holds down a steady job and is perfectly self-sufficient in her daily life. In fact, her coworker's lusting after her is never portrayed as being out of [real] pity or because of some fetish, just typical horndog behaviour.
- Sex Is Good: A believer in this. She has an active sex life with Dolarhyde, who despite being an Ax-Crazy serial killer, clearly loves and respects her. In the original novel, she even expressly states she likes sex and wishes the men she dates wouldn't get so hung up on her blindness.
Molly Graham
Molly Graham
Played By: Mary-Louise Parker
Appearances: Red Dragon
- Mama Bear: She kills Dolarhyde to protect her family.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the beginning of the movie she doesn't even know how to use a gun. By the end of it she kills Dolarhyde with a bullet to the forehead, as he's getting up from Will's earlier shots.
Freddy Lounds
Freddy Lounds
"Remember, if I scratch your back, you scratch mine."
Played By: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Appearances: Red Dragon
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The late Philip Seymour Hoffman was a Big Beautiful Man. Much like Stephen Lang before him and Lara Jean Chorostecki since, "lumpy and ugly and small. He had buck teeth and his rat eyes had the sheen of spit on asphalt" are not words that'd apply to Hoffman.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the novel, Lounds was still a slimy Immoral Journalist, but he was humanized a bit. He was a legitimately competent and respectable Intrepid Reporter in his youth, but turned to tabloids after his career had stalled. He also had a girlfriend who he genuinely loved and treated kindly. Here, Lounds lacks even this mild humanization and is just a total Jerkass.
- Asshole Victim: Played with. Everything that the audience learns about his character displays him as a smug asshole, but the scene right before his death with him humiliated, begging helplessly for his life in fear, disgusted and horrified by Dolarhyde's "slideshow", and dying in a fashion that was extraordinarily painful and protracted, generates at least some sympathy for the poor man.
- Going for the Big Scoop: He's not satisfied with just any news story—he has to pursue insulting pieces on narcissistic, high profile serial killers like Lecter and Dolarhyde.
- Immoral Journalist: He's a sensationalistic reporter willing to do anything to get a juicy story, even if it means hurting people.
- Jerkass: He went as far as taking pictures of Graham in the hospital after getting stabbed by Lecter for his paper, and has no qualms about writing pure lies just to sell copies.
- Kill It with Fire: How he eventually dies—glued to a wheelchair, set on fire, and left to roll down the street by Dolarhyde.
- Paparazzi: Hounds Will Graham to get news from him.
Ralph Mandy
Ralph Mandy
Played By: Frank Whaley
Appearances: Red Dragon
- Boom, Headshot!: Dolarhyde shoots him in the face.
- Casanova Wannabe: Ralph thinks he’s irresistible to women, and is totally oblivious to the fact that Reba, the target of most of his flirting, hates him.
- Jerkass: He can’t take no for an answer and is just generally obnoxious.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Was not wrong in suggesting that Reba be wary of the emotionally unstable Dolarhyde.
- Slimeball: Shamelessly and sleazily pursues the vision impaired Reba, who clearly has zero interest in him.
Lady Murasaki
Lady Murasaki Lecter
Played By: Gong Li
Appearances: Hannibal Rising
- Commonality Connection: Although she and Hannibal are strangers when they first meet, they gradually bond over their mutual loss of family due to war, as they are now the only two surviving members. This is lampshaded by Inspector Popil.
- Damsel in Distress: She becomes this after Grutas kidnaps her.
- Famous-Named Foreigner: Her character was named after the historical figure Lady Murasaki Shikibu, who was the author of The Tale of Genji.
- Katanas Are Just Better: She knows how to use a katana, and she teaches this skill to Hannibal.
- Love Father, Love Son: She was once married to Lecter's uncle, and later tries to seduce Lecter himself to keep him off the path of bloodlust.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She is beautiful by traditional Asian standards.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Hannibal. She does suggest becoming his lover in an attempt to guide him away from his path of murder and revenge, but he rejects her.
- You Remind Me of X: Variant 3. She tells Hannibal that he looks just like his uncle. Since the young man is physically reminiscent of her late husband, she appears to be projecting some of the feelings she had for Robert on to her nephew.
