History Main / HannibalLecture

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* A majority of Master Contra's speeches in ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'' consists of these. Stage 6 has him giving one such speech about ultimate soldiers and winning wars.

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* In the Season 3 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Zaheer delivers one of these to his guards about his idol Guru Laghima and his philosophy. As soon as the guards ask what does it mean, he tells them that they have blinded themselves to the possibility of a new reality, and reveals his newly found airbending. He uses the airbending escape his cell and lock the very guards back into his cell, before taunting them, and leaving them to starve to death.
* In the season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Queen Chrysalis, who had been impersonating Twilight's old foalsitter Cadence, tells everybody that if they had paid more attention to Twilight who was suspicious about her mean behavior instead of focusing on the wedding and assuming it's just Twilight being overprotective of Shining Armor, they would have stopped her before the wedding began. She's not wrong.

Named for Dr. Hannibal Lecter of the 1988 novel ''The Silence of the Lambs'', who set the standard for this trope when he was immortalized onscreen by Creator/AnthonyHopkins in the 1991 film adaptation. You can't spell "Lecture" without L-E-C-T-E-R!

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[ManipulativeBastard Tom]], is caught in a lie by Susan and tries [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-01-21 delivering]] one of these. He starts by listing the true parts of the story he told her, then compliments her, admits his actions, and attempts to justify them by claiming he and Susan [[NotSoDifferentRemark aren't so different]] because [[HumansAreBastards everybody does it]] and [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least he admits it]]. However, Susan sees right through him and responds with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that knocks down every point Tom tried to make.

* ''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 pressurizing lecture involving toilet paper. Humorously, Barbrady folds almost immediately during the "quid pro quo" part, and blurts out embarrassing and traumatizing secrets, such as being sexually abused as a child (which even shocks Josh), and Josh even imitates Hannibal's speech pattern.
--> '''Guard''': Josh, were you doing the silly voice for the policeman again?
--> '''Josh''': *with a normal kid voice* No sir...
* 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.

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.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In Chapter 281, [[spoiler:Tomura Shigaraki gives one about how the heroes of the world simply pretend to promote justice, when in actuality, they ignore too many societal issues instead of addressing them and have done so for generations -- and in doing so, the heroes have inadvertently contributed to the CrapsaccharineWorld the series is set in. Notably, this is the first time Shigaraki has laid out a coherent and perceptive ideology in the series -- and what's more, [[VillainHasAPoint he's not entirely off base with his claims]]]].

* ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': Loki, while imprisoned in a Hulk-proof cell on the Helicarrier, delivers his "Can you wipe out that much red?" lecture. [[spoiler:However, ComicBook/BlackWidow is [[WoundedGazelleGambit playing him as much as he is playing her]]]].

** The Joker does this to ''Batman'' -- who completely loses it when he finds out [[BerserkButton Rachel had been abducted]] along with Harvey. What began as an interrogation to find Harvey turns into a brutal beatdown as Batman desperately tries to get the Joker to tell him where she is. [[spoiler:In fact, he was playing into Joker's hands since it was Joker's goal for Batman to beat him to death (specifically, to break his one rule: ThouShaltNotKill). And even if that failed, the death of whomever Batman didn't save would be on Batman's head for making the choice to save the other (made doubly ironic because their locations were switched, so the intended rescuee would die anyway), and the Joker wanted Batman to live with that knowledge.]]

** Batman turns the tables on Joker[[spoiler: when the people of Gotham prove unwilling to go along with the Joker's scheme and show that they are willing to die rather than become killers themselves]]:

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In the last issue of his miniseries, Baron Zemo talks his would-be murderer into attempting suicide, then stops him and convinces him to join Zemo instead.
* This was used to lethal effect in a back issue of ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', as a telepath and sadist had trapped Pete Wisdom in a room flooded with an exotic bioweapon which damaged the body of an agitated person. Said telepathic sadist was probing around for things to get Pete's goat and let his own memories carve him up like a side of beef. It didn't work, as Pete had made peace with his demons some time before. Instead, the poor maniac eventually hit Pete's deliberately assembled bloc-o'-atrocity, filled with unpleasantness from his horrific earlier career so bad it started damaging the telepath. When that got going, Pete hit him with a bit of the ol' ''Hannibal Lecture'' to the effect of there being a big difference between reading minds and [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead dealing with what you find in them]].
* The ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' comic book had the "hero won't fall for it but the villain is right" version. Reed captures Doom, who points out that Reed has sacrificed far more than it's worth to take him in.
* ''ComicBook/GhostbustersIDWComics'': Lots of the more powerful ghosts enjoy trying this on the gang. It usually has barely any effect.
** A ghost called the 'Hungry Manitou' tried to do a BreakThemByTalking on Garrett Miller, trying to make him feel like TheLoad to the rest of his team because of being [[HandicappedBadass paraplegic]]. Garret promptly gave it a ShutUpHannibal and defeated it.
* ComicBook/HarleyQuinn's origin is a classic example: She was Joker's psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. The frame of her origin is, in most interpretations, almost exactly identical to ''Silence of The Lambs''.
* Famously used in ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'': which reinvented Julian Day, AKA Calendar Man, not only making him a Hannibal expy, but also using this exact speech, not against Batman himself, but rather towards the true Holiday Killer, who it's heavily implied he knows the identity of, but avoids even using gender pronouns as to not give any clues to Batman.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' is kind of in love with this trope.
** Frank doesn't do this often, being TheStoic, but he completely destroys the last shreds of dignity [[SmugSnake Nicky]] [[DirtyCoward Cavella]] has with one.
--> '''Cavella''': Either I walk outta here or I blow the little fuck all over you. It's your call.
--> '''Frank''': You won't shoot him. You're a coward. ...Psycho rep only takes you so far. After that, you've nothing. ''[[PapaWolf Hurt the boy and you die bad]]''. You know that. But there's a part of you that still thinks that if you let him go, you've got a chance. And that part of you just won't shut up.
** Frank's S.A.S. pal Yorkie is the master of these. In a DoubleSubversion, Barracuda laughs off one of these after killing Yorkie, but true to form his dying speech echoes in his head at a most inopportune moment and gets under his skin -- allowing the Brit to punk him from the grave. (It's possible that Yorkie did it in the hopes that this would actually happen.)
--> '''Yorkie''': He's going to kill you. Not over me. You're going up against him, so he'll kill you. Because you're a joke, in spite of it all... and he's the most dangerous man who ever walked this Earth.
* In a 1990 story in ''Comicbook/SuicideSquad'', the Israeli superteam Hayoth captures arch-villain Kobra. They assign their team AI, Dybbuk, to interrogate him... which was his goal all along. He gets the AI to wonder whether it has free will, and ''almost'' convinces it that the only way it could ''prove'' to itself that it has free will would be to do something its creators would never have wanted... like, say, [[WorldWarIII launch a missile attack on the Dome of the Rock]].
* ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Ultimate Comics: Avengers]]'' features a cloned ComicBook/SpiderMan kept under heavy security by SHIELD as part of a Black Ops group. According to the team leader, he can "drive a man to suicide in three or four exchanges."
* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (which [[OlderThanTheyThink pre-dates]] ''Literature/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]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction, the TwoBeingsOneBody San and Vivienne Graham pull this on Alan Jonah. Jonah attempts to psychologically get to Vivienne in person as part of his attempts to break her, but Viv and San turn the tables on him, getting right under his skin by bringing up the death of [[LikeASonToMe Asher]] and how Jonah indirectly caused Asher's death.
* 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 Numbuh 362/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 [[NotSoDifferentRemark how she isn't so different]] from a parent like him.
-->But what do kids know of strain, anyway? They don't know a thing. They just play all the time. Even their work is play. Not like your work. Your work... is work. Isn't it?
* '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.
* The Master attempts one of these in ''[[https://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=30090 Broken Faith]]'' when revealing that some of the Doctor's companions have basically gone on SuicideMissions trying to damage his control of Earth, but the Brigadier cuts it short by pointing out that the companions haven't become ruthless killers, but are just desperate people taking the only option available to them to hurt the Master and only oing it because they know they won't have to live with the guilt of being pushed that far.
%%* A display of Hannibal Lecture versus KirkSummation is featured in the fourth chapter of A:TLAR, 'Revolution 1.' In a conversation set late in the chapter, morally ambiguous [[RebelLeader Katara]] is interrogating the warden of a prison for earthbenders. He attempts to perform a Lecture, it being centered on a NotSoDifferentRemark, and she promptly tears that down. He later questions the idea of a [[TheStoic battle-hardened]] warrior being troubled by death, which she responds to by describing his cruel nature at its roots. He [[VillainousBreakdown does not take this well]], which leads to her slashing his throat to keep him quiet.%%Name and link the work.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7305950/29/The-Empty-Cage The Empty Cage]]'' has one given by Kuushou (aka Kyuubi) to Sarutobi. He explains that destroying his body is the worst possible thing Sarutobi could do, as the last time he had broken out of his seal, it had been in the Land of Wind, which promptly turned from a fertile grassland into a barren desert. He further rips him apart by calmly informing him that every death that occurred during his "attack" had been because they attacked him first, as he was bound by law not to attack unless it was in self-defense.
* ''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 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/TheUnchained'': Sasuke has Danzou at his mercy inside the Tsukuyomi. Yet somehow, he just can't make the interrogation stick. Segues into a {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}.
* ''Fanfic/ThePortal'': Zobek delivers one of these to Blizzard before their final battle.
%%* ''Fanfic/DeliverUsFromEvilSeries'': In "Mortality", Smith tries this on Holmes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Tobias in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series was undergoing torture, and distracted his torturer with questions about her own past.
* In ''Falling'' by Creator/ChristopherPike, [[spoiler: the Acid Killer, Gene Banks, has a way of turning the tables on FBI agent Kelly Feinman. Even after Kelly has caught and made him a quadriplegic, she finds herself drawn to him and the revelations he provides her about her character.]] Pike has stated he owes a debt to ''Silence of the Lambs'', and a character in ''Falling'' name-checks Hannibal Lecter.
* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'': Ellsworth Toohey delivers a long speech to Peter Keating about how to control men (by destroying their souls through whatever means necessary), in the process outlining exactly what he wants in the world (power, as measured by how many men he's torn apart and put under his yoke). Keating [[DespairEventHorizon never recovers]].
%%* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss' last conversation with President Snow. [[spoiler: She decides VillainHasAPoint.]]
* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'': From within her TailorMadePrison, Zarracka taunts Kalak about his failing marriage and attempts to seduce her way into his heart.
%%* Valentine Morgenstern from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments''.
* Subverted in the ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' series. A couple of people have attempted this while being interrogated by Peter, but they always start from "why would a black guy become a copper?" which leads them to make stereotyped assumptions that simply aren't the case. Peter just ignores it all and gets on with the job.
* The first ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' novelization: While bound and essentially helpless, Shen-Ji Yang calmly lectures a professional soldier who is holding him hostage into ''putting her gun to her own temple and shooting herself'', all in a time period of less than ten minutes. Yang is a master psychologist, and his agenda throughout the game is social experimentation. [[note]] It's two lines long and mostly about guilt-tripping the soldier about having a crush on her female commander. [[/note]] The captain of the ship sees this and orders Yang arrested for murder.
* ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' as the TropeNamer.
** In ''Hannibal'', Hannibal's former nurse Barney speaks to a psychologist and brings up the time that he saw the same man go into the basement of the Baltimore hospital to interview Lecter. A little while later, the doctor came hurrying back along the hallway, trying to hide the fact that he was crying.
** [[spoiler: Long story short, he was able to make Starling fall in love with him/brainwash her.]]
* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. Cult leader Jason Delandro has a chat with TheProtagonist Jim [=McCarthy=] (who used to be a member of his cult) the night before his execution. [=McCarthy=] comes off worst in the debate, but at least he has the dubious satisfaction of blowing Delandro's head off the next day.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In the Season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "[[Recap/AngelS04E11Soulless Soulless]]" and "[[Recap/AngelS04E12Calvary Calvary]]", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he works at their points of mental or emotional weakness. 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).
** His 'grandson', Spike, demonstrates this several times on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', as part of his uncanny ability to read people, from which his particular knack for fighting -- and killing -- Slayers is derived.
* ''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.
* In the very first episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', Columbo is conducting a characteristic interrogation-disguised-as-a-friendly-conversation with the murderer, who happens to be a psychiatrist. He counters by calling Columbo out on his [[ObfuscatingStupidity bumbling]], genial act, accurately summing up that he takes advantage of his dumpy appearance to put people at ease while actually trying to trip them up in any way that he can. While the psychiatrist is trying to make it clear those methods won't work on him despite the fact they both know he's guilty, Columbo's undeterred.
* ''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.
* Being a cop show that deals specifically with serial killers, ''Series/CriminalMinds'' does this occasionally.
** In an early Season 1 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 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/CSI}}'': Nate Haskell uses it against Ray, first when he’s brought in to help find Dr. Jekyll, another killer, and then again after kidnapping Ray’s ex-wife who Ray still loves. He knows Ray’s weakness is his struggle with anger and violent tendencies and wants to goad him to action. It works after the kidnapping and Ray kills him.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
** Inverted in the Ice Truck killer case. Lt. [=LaGuerta=] is interrogating Neil Perry (who has confessed to being the Ice Truck Killer), he tries to psych her out by discussing the reason she received her promotion (specifically the fact that she wasn't the hero cop the press portrayed her as). [[spoiler: This allows [=LaGuerta=] to realise that Perry (who is a computer technician) must have hacked into the precinct database, which is where he got his "proof" that he was the Ice Truck Killer. She then gets him to admit his deception, by psyching him out with a severed head.]]
** Played with in Season 2, when [[spoiler: Dexter has Doakes, who knows that Dexter is a serial killer, locked up in the Everglades.]] Dexter tries to [[NotSoDifferentRemark convince him they're not so different]], but it never sticks. Their conversations cause Doakes to realize that, like him, Dexter has a [[SerialKillerKiller conscience]] and [[spoiler: won't actually kill him: from there he persuades Dexter to release him and turn himself in.]]
** In the Season 3 finale, Dexter is kidnapped by the Skinner and tied to a table while he whistles menacingly. Dexter, quickly realizing that the Skinner is a ControlFreak, immediately throws him off his game by casually admitting that he already murdered the man the Skinner is looking for and mocking him. The Skinner decides to just skip ahead to the torture part and goes to get his "tools", which gives Dexter an opportunity to break free from his restraints.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[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. [[spoiler:After her back-up plan nearly destroys Earth, the Doctor finds an alternative by exposing her to the raw energy of the TARDIS so that she will be 'de-aged' back into an egg, allowing him to take her back to her home planet and get adopted by a new family]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern "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 actual "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.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "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 at Davros' supposed authority and says he's nothing more than the Daleks' pet. However, Davros almost immediately turns it on him, after the Doctor's companions call in, threatening Davros and the Daleks with, respectively, the annihilation of Earth -- a HeroicSacrifice on the grounds that it's BetterToDieThanBeKilled and it'll derail the Daleks' plan -- and/or the annihilation of the vast Dalek mothership, the Crucible. Rose reacts with a certain glee at the sheer NervesOfSteel implicit in both threats, but the Doctor looks away, and Davros pounces.
--->'''Davros''' The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people, and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. [[NotSoDifferentRemark I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.]]
--->'''The Doctor''': They're trying to help.
--->'''Davros''': Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network.
--->'''The Doctor''': Who was that?
--->'''Rose''': Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here.
--->'''Davros''': How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name? [[{{Beat}} [pause to let it sink in]]] The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... ''yourself.''
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': River is good at these.
** An inversion of this takes place in "[[Recap/FireflyE14ObjectsInSpace 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 "[[Recap/FireflyE04Shindig 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''.
--->Sure, I got a secret. More'n one. Don't seem like I'd tell 'em to you now, do it? Anyone off Dyton colony knows better than to talk to strangers. But you're talking loud enough for the both of us, ain't tya? I've known a dozen like you, skipped off home early, minor graft jobs here and there. Spent some time in the lockdown, but less than you claim. And you're what? Petty thief with delusions of standing? Sad little king, of a sad little hill. [to the others] ...call me when someone interesting shows up.
*** Badger is initially shaken by River's assessment, but at the end he settles down and says that "I ''like'' her."
* 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.
* 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. 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'']].
* ''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/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", 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/{{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.
* ''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.

%% The live-action TV shows above this point have been identified as containing at least one genuine example of Hannibal Lecture and not just Breaking Them by Talking not done by one being interrogated. The status of the ones below has not been determined.

* ''Series/The100'': when [[spoiler:Raven "possessed" by A.L.I.E.]] has been captured by the main characters, she uses just the right words to hurt them, to make them angry until they start turning on each other, and to reveal their plan to her so she can act to prevent it.
* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': Coulson and May don't want Skye to talk with the now imprisoned Ward because they're afraid he'll "fill her head with lies". [[DefiedTrope Skye doesn't give him a chance.]] As soon as he says one word not directly related to her interrogation, she cuts him off.
* Parodied in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', when Tobias, former psychologist turned acting-hopeful, manages to accidentally talk his prison bunkmate, White Power Bill, into suicide by questioning him about "where the hate comes from."
* In ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' 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.]]
* ''Series/ColdCase''
** A rare Lecture ''duel'' in the episode "Mindhunters". They're ''refusing'' to respond to each other's taunts. In fact, Lily's refusal to break infuriates George so much that he very nearly confesses before pulling himself together and smugly walking out, much to Lily's frustration. Throughout the episode, he refuses to crack under interrogation and instead taunts the detectives about painful moments in their lives -- Scotty's schizophrenic girlfriend, Stillman's failed marriage and the rape of his daughter, Vera's mishandling a rape case and the death of Jeffries' wife.
** A duel takes place in the episode, "The Woods". George Marks, who enjoys this trope, has Detective Lily Rush at gunpoint. Both know devastating facts about the other's past, and how it affects their psyche, and each scores powerful emotional hits against the other.
* Evil Abed delivers one to Britta in ''Series/{{Community}}'', in [[Recap/CommunityS3E22IntroductiontoFinality "Introduction to Finality"]], complete with a BreakingSpeech.
--> '''Evil Abed''': Do you know what kind of person becomes a psychologist, Britta? A person that wishes deep down everyone more special than them was sick. Because healthy sounds so much more exciting than boring. You’re average, Britta Perry. You’re every kid on the playground that didn't get picked on. You’re business casual potted plant, a human white sale. You’re [=VH1=], Robocop 2, and Back to the Future 3. You’re the center slice of a square cheese pizza. Actually, that sounds delicious. I’m the center slice of a square cheese pizza. You’re Jim Belushi.
* In ''Series/{{Cracker}}'', the various psychos that Fitz is called in to deal with have a tendency to try this on him. Given how Fitz is a first-rate professional psychologist and they usually ''aren't'', he often ends up doing it right back to them, usually more successfully.
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': When confronted by Detective Jim Gordon over his vigilantism in "[[Recap/GothamS1E3TheBalloonman The Balloonman]]", Davis "The Balloonman" Lamond asks Gordon to contemplate if he really is fighting for the innocent as he claims.
* In the fifth season of ''Series/{{Haven}}'', while tied to a chair on the Cape Rouge, Mara uses {{Breaking Speech}}es to isolate and manipulate Duke, who is trying to interrogate her for information about his Trouble. She convinces him to run away with her and takes the opportunity to [[WhyAmITicking turn him into a living Trouble bomb]].
* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', "The Experimental Job", a {{Breaking Speech}} by an interrogator is turned around into a Hannibal Lecture from one of the good guys. A career CIA interrogator tries to break Eliot by getting him to talk about how many people Eliot has killed, but the tactic is unsuccessful -- instead, Eliot's response leaves the ''interrogator'' shaken badly enough to call an end to the session.
-->"What do you want to know? Names? Dates? Locations? You want to know what food was on their breath? Their eyes -– what color their eyes were? You want to know the last words they spoke? You want to know which ones deserved it? Or, better yet, the ones that didn't? Do you want to know which ones begged? Do you know why I remember these things? You don't know? 'Cause I can't forget. So there's nothing you can do, no punishment you can hand out that's worse than what I live with every day. So, to answer your question, no. No, I haven't counted. I don't need to."
* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Since Ben spends a lot of time as a prisoner, this is his favourite toy. It's all he did in Season 2 in the hatch, and more effectively in Episode 4.4, "Eggtown," which makes Locke explode ("Excellent, John. You're evolving!").
-->'''Sawyer:''' You wanna tell me why we're keeping this guy alive?\\
'''Locke:''' Because aside from his mouth, he's completely harmless.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck does this after Monk's spoiled his EvilPlan for revenge and gotten his LuxuryPrisonSuite privileges revoked: "It's true, Adrian Monk. I may be in prison, but ''you're in a worse prison!'' You're trapped! Trapped by your own demons! You're in your own private Hell! I wouldn't trade places with you for another billion dollars!" Monk's response is to quietly turn around and walk away, as Dale is too obese to walk.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In the first season episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]", arrested Cardassian war criminal Gul Darhe'el aggressively lectures Major Kira, coupled with openly bragging about his mass murders. It turns out his purpose was not to break her down but [[spoiler: to keep her from guessing he isn't Darhe'el at all, just a simple file clerk who wants to be executed for war crimes in place of Darhe'el, because he believes Cardassia can only survive by admitting its crimes during the Bajoran Occupation.]]
* Data is polite to his captor, Kivas Fajo, during the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]" and, instead of trying to pysch him, out tries to outmaneuver Kivas's demands via passive resistance. An attempted escape has resulted in the death of someone trying to help and the tables are turned when Data points a disruptor right at Fajo's face. Now the one at the other's mercy, Fajo says the following:
-->'''Data:''' You will surrender yourself to the authorities.\\
'''Fajo:''' Or what? You'll fire? [[YouWouldntShootMe Empty threat, and we both know it.]] Why don't you accept your fate? You'll return to your chair, and you'll ''sit'' there! You'll entertain ''me'', and you'll entertain my guests. And if you don't, I'll simply kill someone else. ''(points to a henchman)'' Him, perhaps. It doesn't matter. Their blood will be on your hands too, just like poor [[spoiler:Varria's]]. Your only alternative, Data, is to fire. ''Murder me!'' It's all you have to do. Go ahead. ''Fire.'' 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 threat 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.
* Defied in the live action version of ''Series/TheTick2001''. A super-villain nearly pulls this off with his guard until a super-heroine [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan shakes some sense into him]] and takes over as guard. She is then so enthusiastic about discussing every aspect of her personal life that the villain gives up in disgust.

[[folder:Radio]]
* Referenced, but not at all an example, in ''The Black Philip Show'' in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXZggIKLmrg&feature=related YouTube clip]]. He says, "I just had to "Hannibal Lecter, just talk this bitch till' she die," while explaining how his girlfriend's moodiness affects him.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Heroic example in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' sequel, in which Miles Edgeworth [[spoiler: has been arrested for conducting an illegal investigation]] in order to clear [[spoiler: Kay Faraday's]] name. Prosecutorial Investigation Committee Chairman Blaise Debeste happens to be walking by [[spoiler: Edgeworth's cell]] and taunts him. Edgeworth responds by asking for the chance to ask "one question." Through the ensuing Logic Chess segment, Edgeworth repeatedly stacks on "[[AndAnotherThing just one more thing]]" to string Blaise along until Blaise finally admits that [[spoiler: he knows that Kay is innocent and intentionally framed her.]] While the confession can't be used as evidence, it gives Edgeworth the information he needs to later expose and convict the true killer.
* A majority of Master Contra's speeches in ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'' consists of these. Stage 6 has him giving one such speech about ultimate soldiers and winning wars.
* One possible low-level monster in ''VideoGame/ImprobableIsland'' is named Hannibal Lecture, and tries this on the player. It doesn't work.
* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza0}}'': Played straight, subverted and defied in the same conversation. Before the fight between Majima and Awano, Awano goes on a spiel about how modern organized crime is a business, and honorable, fist-first types like Majima are a relic of the past. When Majima [[ShutUpHannibal throws it back into his face]], Awano shrugs and admits that his opinions have less to do with reality and more with his own [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter feelings of inadequacy]], unwillingness to take the "death-or-glory"-paths that lead [[ICouldaBeenAContender to the top,]] and him becoming complacent and comfortable in middle-management.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[ManipulativeBastard Tom]], is caught in a lie by Susan and tries [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-01-21 delivering]] one of these. He starts by listing the true parts of the story he told her, then compliments her, admits his actions, and attempts to justify them by claiming he and Susan [[NotSoDifferentRemark aren't so different]] because [[HumansAreBastards everybody does it]] and [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least he admits it]]. However, Susan sees right through him and responds with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that knocks down every point Tom tried to make.
* In ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'', when Cale is taken off to be tortured and comes back knowing the bad guys' EvilPlan.
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': In "Oceans Unmoving", Murdock (the weirdest of TheGreys in the story) does this accidentally when interrogated about what has been going on by going into details that make the interrogators uncomfortable and generally freaking them out. [[spoiler: In a sense {{inverted}}, since he's not so much "being interrogated by his captors" as "willingly giving a record that is being recorded by his former captors who are now prisoners to his side."]]
* Bayn of ''Webcomic/TrueVillains'' makes his would-be torturer run out sobbing just by talking to him.
-->'''Bayn:''' And I am called a villain. I would never stoop as low as you, you scum.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* At the climax of ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood'', the heroes have reached the [[DarkLord Lord of Dark's]] lair, and before he lets Hirou smite him, [[WhiteMage Dolf]] starts to remind the Lord of Dark of all his crimes in an imperious tone. Naturally, said Lord launches in to his own rebuttal, accusing the heroes of caring only for themselves and upholding an oppressive regime. The kicker? [[SummonEverymanHero Hirou]] [[ExplainExplainOhCrap begins to realize]] that [[spoiler: what the Lord of Dark says is objective fact, because all of Dolf's arguments boil down to "kings have a divine right to rule and nobody may oppose them", something which Hirou, being from 21st-century Earth, knows is just propaganda so that the common folk don't assert their rights. After having been completely swayed to the Lord of Dark's side, Hirou does exactly what he had been asked to do by him, effectively making the Lord of Dark the new ChosenOne, [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own life]]]].
* Kirby gets a lot of these in ''WebVideo/ThereWillBeBrawl'', considering he's supposed to be [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore a parody of Hannibal himself, anyway.]] He even wears the mask, at one point.
* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
** [[TheEmpath Cherish]] attempts this on the [[VillainProtagonist Undersiders]] using information she'd gleaned on them with her power, only to have [[AwesomenessbyAnalysis Tattletale]] turn it around on her during her interrogation.
** Later, [[VillainProtagonist Skitter]] is cornered by the superhero Flechette and her ally Parian, with a dart of metal fused to her shoulder. Flechette intends to arrest her and take her in, and the only weapon that Skitter has is her knowledge of the heroes. She points out that the world isn't nearly as black and white as Flechette would like it, convinces Parian to turn to her side, and severely damages Flechette's faith in the heroes.
[[/folder]]

** In the first season episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]", arrested Cardassian war criminal Gul Darhe'el aggressively lectures Major Kira, coupled with openly bragging about his mass murders. It turns out his purpose was not to break her down but [[spoiler: to keep her from guessing he isn't Darheel at all, just a simple file clerk who wants to be executed for war crimes in place of Darheel, because he believes Cardassia can only survive by admitting its crimes during the Bajoran Occupation.]]

** In the first season episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]", arrested Cardassian war criminal Gul Darheel aggressively lectures Major Kira, coupled with openly bragging about his mass murders. It turns out his purpose was not to break her down but [[spoiler: to keep her from guessing he isn't Darheel at all, just a simple file clerk who wants to be executed for war crimes in place of Darheel, because he believes Cardassia can only survive by admitting its crimes during the Bajoran Occupation.]]

** Frank's S.A.S. pal Yorkie is the master of these. He'd probably have the TropeNamer weeping for forgiveness after a few minutes with him. In a DoubleSubversion, Barracuda laughs off one of these after killing Yorkie, but true to form his dying speech echoes in his head at a most inopportune moment and gets under his skin -- allowing the Brit to punk him from the grave. (It's possible that Yorkie did it in the hopes that this would actually happen.)

-->-- '''[[TropeNamer Hannibal Lecter]]''', ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' (book)

* 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'']].

** The Joker does this to ''Batman'' -- who completely loses it when he finds out [[BerserkButton Rachel had been abducted]] along with Harvey. What began as an interrogation to find Harvey turns into a brutal beatdown as Batman desperately tries to get the Joker to tell him where she is. [[spoiler:In fact, he was playing into Joker's hands since it was Joker's goal for Batman to beat him to death (specifically, to break his one rule: ThouShaltNotKill).]]

%%* ''TheExorcistIII''. The Gemini Killer

* Parodied in ''CopOut''. Unsophisticated criminal Dave drives even simpler-minded police officer Paul Hodges nuts, mostly by saying (in a number of different ways) that his wife is cheating on him.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "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 at Davros' supposed authority and says he's nothing more than the Daleks' pet.
*** However, Davros almost immediately turns it on him, after the Doctor's companions call in, threatening Davros and the Daleks with, respectively, the annihilation of Earth -- a HeroicSacrifice on the grounds that it's BetterToDieThanBeKilled and it'll derail the Daleks' plan -- and/or the annihilation of the vast Dalek mothership, the Crucible. Rose reacts with a certain glee at the sheer NervesOfSteel implicit in both threats, but the Doctor looks away, and Davros pounces.
-->'''Davros''' The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people, and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. [[NotSoDifferentRemark I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.]]
-->'''The Doctor''': They're trying to help.
-->'''Davros''': Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network.
-->'''The Doctor''': Who was that?
-->'''Rose''': Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here.
-->'''Davros''': How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name? [[{{Beat}} [pause to let it sink in]]] The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... ''yourself.''