Line #22 Literature/Hannibal


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9	''Hannibal'' is the 1999 {{sequel}} to the bestselling Thomas Harris novel ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', and the third novel in the Franchise/HannibalLecter series. A [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie adaptation]], directed by Creator/RidleyScott, came out in 2001.
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11	Seven years have passed since Hannibal Lecter's escape from custody. Clarice Starling is now a fully-fledged FBI agent, but a bungled drugs raid leads to her [[TurnInYourBadge being suspended]]. Meanwhile, Lecter is living in UsefulNotes/{{Florence}}, pursued by Starling, a wealthy former victim, and a disgraced Italian police detective - in different ways for different reasons.
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13	The [[Film/{{Hannibal}} movie]], with [[PragmaticAdaptation a different ending]], saw Creator/AnthonyHopkins reprise his role as Lecter and also starred Creator/JulianneMoore, Creator/GaryOldman and Creator/RayLiotta.
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15	The flashbacks from ''Hannibal'' involving the Verger twins were later incorporated into the second season of Creator/BryanFuller's [[Series/{{Hannibal}} TV series of the same name]], with Creator/MichaelPitt[[note]]and [[TheOtherDarrin Joe Anderson]] in Season 3[[/note]] and Katharine Isabelle as Mason and Margot. The novel's primary story of Lecter on the run (with modifications) influenced the first half of the show's third season. Pazzi was played by Fortunato Cerlino and Will Graham, as well as Chiyoh (a character from ''Literature/HannibalRising'') and Bedelia Du Maurier (a CanonForeigner unique to the series), were incorporated into the story.
16	----
17	!!''Hannibal'' provides examples of:
18	* AffablyEvil: [[CorruptCop Corrupt]] Maryland Sheriff's Deputy Mogli, who watchdogs Lecter's planned execution on the Verger estate is described as ''"a person who agreed with everything his victim said before he killed him."''
19	* AnimalMotifs: Pazzi washes the pickpocket's blood off his hands in the Porcellino fountain, which is bronze boar. The very next scene reveals Verger's intention to have Lecter FedToPigs.
20	* AntagonistTitle: ''Hannibal''. The protagonist, once again, is Clarice Starling.
21	* AssholeVictim: Mason Verger was this, even though he didn't actually die [[spoiler:at least not then]] and just wound up crippled.
22	* BadassBoast: The letter that Lecter leaves for Mason after killing Pazzi ends with this.
23	-->'''Lecter:''' Since you want to see me so badly, let me give you some words of comfort, and you know I never lie. Before you die you will see my face.
24	* BatmanGambit: Verger employs one after the Italy fiasco to flush Lecter out of hiding. With Krendler's assistance, Mason frames Clarice for 'withholding' communications from Lecter from the Bureau (and in the case of the book, for a fake warning). Verger knows that Lecter's fascinated with Starling and has been keeping tabs on her while in 'exile'. He correctly anticipates that the ensuing implosion of Clarice's personal and professional lives will tempt Lecter to return to the United States (where his people are keeping Starling surveilled and they can grab him when he inevitably makes his move). In both cases, it works.
25	* BigFancyHouse: Muskrat Farm, the Verger family's estate.
26	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Vergers.
27	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Lecter arms himself with a spring-mounted concealed blade known as a Harpy.
28	* BodyCountCompetition: Clarice receives a letter from the Guinness Book of Records congratulating her on being the female FBI agent who has shot and killed the most people.
29	* BondVillainStupidity: Verger's men actually capture Lecter and could have killed him at any moment, but Verger's determination to give him a CruelAndUnusualDeath eventually leads to Lecter escaping.
30	* ChekhovsBoomerang: Clarice's skill on the firing range was mentioned in the previous book and turned out to be vital to the story's climax. Her reputation as an excellent gunman comes back to haunt her when she is forced to kill several people during a drug bust gone wrong, allowing her enemies at the Bureau to paint her as a trigger-happy killer.
31	* ChekhovsGun:
32	** Clarice's handcuffs.
33	** The floor polisher.
34	* ChekhovsGunman: Mason Verger, while not named, was alluded to in ''Red Dragon'' as one of Lecter's two surviving victims, being described as being on a respirator in Baltimore. In this novel, he goes from being an unseen throwaway character to the main antagonist.
35	* ContinuityNod:
36	** In ''Silence of the Lambs'', Hannibal has sketched a view of Florence from the roof of the Duomo as part of his WickedCultured personality. One of the first establishing shots in ''Hannibal'' is that exact vista in real life.
37	** During the dinner scene with Krendler, Bach's Goldberg Variations is playing, the same piece Lecter was listening to when he killed his two guards in Tennessee and escaped.
38	* CrapsackWorld: Corruption is a major theme of the story, particularly in the novel. Clarice's ideals get her absolutely crucified by Washington politics in several ways, most notably at the hands of Paul Krendler who takes every opportunity to poison her career and ensure that despite her qualifications and achievements she is never permitted to work under Jack Crawford like she dreamed. It gets even worse when Krendler is bought by Mason Verger, who uses his immense wealth and political power to basically do whatever he wants to anyone he wants, and on a whim he is able to both save and destroy Clarice's career at different points in the story. It's the kind of world where the strange, twisted principles of Hannibal Lecter actually make sense.
39	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Perhaps the ''worst in the history of the written word.'' [[spoiler:Lecter captures Clarice and Krendler, drugs and hypnotizes Clarice, then cuts the top off of Krendler's head and cooks his brain for him and Clarice to eat. To be more specific; '''Krendler is not drugged''' - as the brain has no nerves, Hannibal is not only able to saw open Krendler's skull without killing him, but Krendler at first thinks that he just had a TapOnTheHead, only for Hannibal to nonchalantly '''lift the top of his skull off''' and start slicing away like a deranged Japanese steakhouse chef. And Clarice has gone through a HumiliationConga at Krendler's hands, so all it takes is some designer drugs and a little hypnosis for her to '''join Hannibal in feasting on her BadBoss.''' Krendler's slow deterioration into random babble as Hannibal and Clarice feast on every last morsel of his frontal lobes is the '''''most triumphant example''''' of Cruel and Unusual Death.]]
40	** [[spoiler: Mason Verger's]] death, whether it be in the book or the movie, may not be as sadistic as [[spoiler: Krendler's,]] but either way is still a nasty way to go.
41	* DecoyDamsel: Inverted. Mason Verger decides that the best way to draw Lecter out of hiding is to put Starling in jeopardy. ''"When the fox hears the rabbit scream, he comes a-running... but not to help."''
42	* DirtyCop:
43	** Rinaldo Pazzi is a disgraced Italian detective who partners with Verger's henchmen to capture Lecter, eager to collect a $3 million bounty.
44	** Paul Krendler, who is bribed by Verger to have Starling suspended from the FBI.
45	** A Maryland Sheriff's deputy who has ''"long [been] a creature of the Vergers"'' is hired to watchdog Lecter's execution at Mason's estate.
46	* TheDogBitesBack: Mason Verger's death:
47	** In the book [[spoiler:Margot Verger takes very messy revenge on her brother Mason, who had sexually abused her when she was younger, and manages to make sure that her family will have access to the family's fortune by getting his sperm so she can impregnate her girlfriend with a blood-related heir]].
48	** In the movie it is [[spoiler: his doctor Cordell Doemling, who throws Verger to the pigs, when Hannibal points out that Cordell could just blame the murder on him]].
49	* DoWrongRight: Mason retains a gang of Sardinians to breed the special wild boars intended to devour Lecter alive, and to kidnap him once he is located. According to Harris, the Sardinians are some of [[ConsummateProfessional the most experienced and professional kidnappers in the world]], and the Italian police prefer dealing with them over other kidnappers, since they can be relied upon not to kill their victims by accident or in a sudden panic, and (if the ransom is paid) to return the victim alive and unharmed. Of course, the flip side is that if the ransom isn't paid, "the Sards" will not hesitate to return the victim to the family - one small piece at a time.
50	* EvilCripple: Mason Verger is a cripple but still manages to be a horrible person.
51	* EvilGloating: Mason Verger does this to Hannibal, in the form of ToThePain. He caps his speech with "I bet you wish you'd fed the rest of me to the dogs." Hannibal delivers a ShutUpHannibal (ironic, that) that makes Mason leave the room.
52	* EvilMakesYouUgly: Verger actions resulted in having his face cut off.
53	* EvilWillFail: Posing as "Doctor Fell", Hannibal insults Inspector Pazzi, the Italian detective investigating a missing scholar (who Lecter almost certainly killed to get the scholar's job) for his failings on the "Il Mostro" case. Lecter claims he had been following the case in the papers, which is the first thing that arouses Pazzi's suspicions (that "Fell" had been following a SerialKiller case so closely), and along with a later remark to Clarice about "coming out of retirement" suggests he sabotaged his own freedom, as well as a new career. It is strongly implied that he is, in fact, the Il Mostro killer himself. [[note]]There actually ''was'' an Italian SerialKiller by that name--"The Monster of Florence"--but they operated in the 60's and 70's, and may have been more than one person.[[/note]]
54	* ExtraDigits: Hannibal has six fingers on his left hand, as a metaphor for "being a monster".
55	** In the novels, at least. This subplot was abandoned in the film adaptations(mainly as the special effects would have been expensive). This leads to an important plot divergence early on with an x-ray of Lecter's arm- in the book [[spoiler: Lecter had his extra digit removed,]] with a smuggled x-ray from the surgery compared to a prior one from the asylum to compare the rest of the bone structure. In the film a recent x-ray from a broken arm incident is compared to one from the asylum for similar reasons.
56	* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Hannibal gets an electric cattle prod jabbed into his eye after taunting one of Verger's thugs.]]
57	* FacialHorror: Mason Verger peeled off his own face under the influence of Lecter, plus some party drugs. Seen in the movie [[https://web.archive.org/web/20111107043154/http://www.killerfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/gary-oldman-hannibal-300x199.jpg Here]].
58	* FamilyThemeNaming: All the named Vergers have names beginning with "M," Mason, his sister Margot, and their father Molson.
59	* FamousAncestor: Pazzi is a descendent of the Pazzis, a noble Florentine family in the Middle Ages who unsuccessfully [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi_conspiracy tried to overthrow the ruling de Medicis in 1478]]. Lecter mentions Francesco de Pazzi, who was hanged from a window in the aftermath, which also [[{{foreshadowing}} foreshadows]] [[spoiler:Pazzi's own fate]].
60	* FBIAgent: Starling is now a fully trained FBI Agent.
61	* FlashedBadgeHijack: Averted when Clarice Starling witnesses Hannibal Lecter being kidnapped by Mason Verger's thugs and is unable to get a couple driving a car to even call for help. She spends the next few hours silently cursing herself for not throwing them out of the car and chasing the kidnappers herself.
62	* ForcedOrgasm: After Dr. Lecter is captured by Mason Verger, Mason's sister Margot tells Lecter she's helping her brother in the vain hope that he'll donate sperm to impregnate her female partner, so that Margot's family will inherit the Verger fortune. Lecter nonchalantly tells her that one can obtain sperm by stimulating a male's prostate with a cattle prod... and also that he would gladly claim responsibility if Mason were to be murdered. [[spoiler:She takes advantage of his advice]].
63	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lecter gives a lecture with Pazzi in attendance in which he mentions a depiction of Judas Iscariot hanging by the neck with his bowels out. [[spoiler:This is the fate that awaits Pazzi]].
64	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Verger family: Mason is choleric, Margot is phlegmatic, Molson is melancholic.
65	* GiveMeBackMyWallet: Dr. Lecter murders the guy who tries to pickpocket him. Though he was also partially murdered by Commendatore Pazzi, the DirtyCop who had hired the pickpocket in the first place to get fingerprints, who intentionally lets him bleed to death so as not to blow his own cover.
66	* GoGoEnslavement: Lecter gives Clarice an evening gown for her to wear after he nurses her back to health.
67	* GrandFinale: As the next novel ''Hannibal Rising'' was a prequel, this is the final chronological installment of the series.
68	* HappyEndingOverride: The previous novel ended with Clarice at peace, with a new love affair and her career trajectory tied to a comet. Here, she's restless and unattached with a plateaued and crumbling career--though the public reveal of the conspiracy between Verger and Krendler could possibly result in her vindication though.
69	* HiddenWire: Clarice Starling mentions during her shooting inquest that a man from another agency is wearing a wire. A FBI man threatens to punch him out if he tries that again.
70	* IronicHell: The punishment Verger has planned for Hannibal is doubly so. On the one hand, he's a cannibal who would be [[FedToPigs eaten alive]], and on the other, Hannibal previously punished Verger by making him cut his own face off and feeding it to dogs.
71	* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: Verger reflects that he thought this when he was slicing his own face up at Lecter's instigation.
72	* JapaneseTourist: Seen briefly in an establishing scene and are there to take pictures when [[spoiler: Inspector Pazzi]] is murdered.
73	* {{Jerkass}}: Verger and Krendler.
74	* JurisdictionFriction: the FBI/ATF's joint drug bust of Evelda Drumgo's meth lab is joined at the last moment by D.C. Metro Police Detective Bolton, since D.C.'s mayor wants to show how tough he is on drugs, after being convicted of possession of cocaine. The FBI and ATF teams (headed by Starling and her old Academy mentor, John Brigham), merge together seamlessly, while Bolton ends up blowing the whole operation and causing the shootout that kills Brigham and several other agents.
75	* JustDesserts: At the climax of ''Hannibal'', [[spoiler:the boars that Mason hoped would eat Hannibal put him on their menu instead.]]
76	* KarmaHoudini: Lecter is this in spades, though Thomas Harris admitted he had grown to like his character so much this trope became inevitable. In the ''Hannibal'' novel Lecter even [[spoiler:finally settles down with Starling following the events of the novel]].
77	* {{Lobotomy}}: The act of cutting open Krendler's head and serving him his own brain to eat qualifies as this, with similar results.
78	* MemoryPalace: Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a master of a vast memory palace, portrayed as an elegant mansion. It's mentioned that he would spend years inside it while incarcerated in an insane asylum. [[spoiler:When Clarice becomes his lover Hannibal teaches her the technique, and discovers several of his rooms overlap with hers.]]
79	* MoodWhiplash: After Lecter returns to the U.S., a scene shows him in a dignified, high-end shop buying silver, fine china and other expensive baubles, seemingly preparing for a fab dinner party. The next scene shows him going to a hosptal morgue, locking the attendant in the cold chamber and stealing autopsy tools. The viewer is left to ponder what his plans might be for ''those''.
80	* MuggingTheMonster: Pazzi compels a pickpocket to mug Lecter, in order to acquire a fingerprint.
81	* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Hannibal kidnaps, drugs and hypnotizes a disillusioned Clarice and acts as her therapist. Clarice undergoes a major FaceHeelTurn, and when the drugs wear off, Clarice seduces him.]]
82	* NearMissGroinAttack: A non-comedic example. Hannibal stabs a thief, aiming for the groin. However, the thief managed to dodge... so the blow lands [[OutOfTheFryingPan in the complicated mass of arteries feeding the groin]]. He dies.
83	* NoodleImplements: Lecter fashions a device with which to [[spoiler:hang and disembowel Pazzi]] out of a floor polisher, its power cable and some duct tape.
84	* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: Lecter does this when he questions the bound and gagged [[spoiler:Pazzi]].
85	* PainlessDeathForAPrice: When Hannibal Lecter faces the gruesome fate of being fed to Mason Verger's pigs, Mason's twisted assistant Cordell offers to give him a serum that will grant a quick heart attack, in exchange for whatever money Lecter has stashed away. The good doctor responds by luring Cordell close with a promise of a Swiss bank account number... then snaps a bite out of his eyebrow.
86	* RedHerring: In the book, we learn quite a bit about ''Il Mostro'' and the clues clearly point in one direction: The murders happened in one of Lecter's favorite cities, the bodies were specially arranged based on a classic work of art and there was a gap in murders of eight years, the length of time Hannibal was incarcerated. It immediately becomes obvious that ''Il Mostro'' was how Hannibal spent his vacations and that Pazzi, who hunts both killers, would piece it together. Well, not only does Pazzi never suspect a connection, Hannibal himself reveals he has no interest in the case and that aside from his predecessor he hasn't killed anyone since returning to Florence.
87	* ReminiscingAboutYourVictims: Mason Verger reminisces about a Christian camp he attended and his fellow campers, some of them disadvantaged youths who "would do anything for a candy bar" which allowed him to molest them. This is meant to mark him out as an AssholeVictim of Hannibal Lecter's [[spoiler:and later of his sister Margot's]].
88	* RepressedMemories:
89	** In Hannibal Lecter's "memory palace", there is a locked cellar that is hardly ever opened - containing the memories of how his younger sister was murdered during World War II; if that cellar is ever unlocked, which sometimes happens in dreams, even Lecter wakes up screaming;
90	** Paul Krendler tells Starling that his antipathy towards her has nothing to do with her turning down his sexual advances, and in a way he is telling the truth; the real reason is something he can't even admit to himself, that she bears a passing physical resemblance to a girl who called him a "queer" in the back of a car while he was still in high school;
91	* RippedFromTheHeadlines:
92	** Before the opening drug bust, Starling curtly tells D.C. Metro Detective Bolton that his department has no interest in the case, and the only reason he's there at all is so the mayor can appear tough on drugs after his own cocaine conviction. D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested and convicted of cocaine possession in 1990, and chose not to run for reelection that year, though he was reelected and was in office in 1999, when the novel was published.
93	** The FBI's most wanted list includes UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden, James Charles Kopp and James J. Bulger.[[note]] Kopp and Bulger have since been caught, and Bin Laden, of course, was killed by the United States Seal Team 6 in 2011.[[/note]]
94	** Pazzi is said to have worked on the case of ''Il Mostro'', a RealLife SerialKiller active in Florence in the 1970s and 1980s.
95	** The backstory of antagonist Mason Verger is based not-so-loosely on the purported self-mutilation of a man under the influence of PCP who sliced off bits of his face and fed them to his dogs. The sole evidence for this event seems to come from an annotated photograph in the book ''Practical Homicide Investigation'' by Vernon J. Geberth. '''Warning: the photograph in question is exceptionally graphic and disturbing.''' If you still want to view it (don't say we didn't warn you), you can access the image [[http://web.archive.org/web/20020817073301/http://marmo.com/images/FacePeel.jpg here.]]
96	* RoguishRomani: Romula is a Gypsy pickpocket.
97	* SceneryPorn: Well it is Florence.
98	* StalkerWithATestTube: Margot only sticks around because she needs Mason's sperm to impregnate her partner (as Margot was disinherited by her father when he discovered she was a lesbian, the family fortune will pass to Mason's heirs only). [[spoiler:She eventually gets what she wants, with the aid of a cattle prod.]]
99	* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Pazzi himself considers that being a cop, he could just arrest "Dr Fell" and quickly determine whether he really is Lecter. But his {{greed}} for Mason Verger's $3 million ransom gets the better of him, and he decides against this.
100	* TheStinger: After the credits, Lecter’s signature rolls onscreen, and Hannibal says, ‘Ta-ta. H.’
101	* TastyTears: Mason Verger makes children cry and uses their tears to flavor his Martinis.
102	* TooDumbToLive: Or greedy. Despite everything he reads about Hannibal Lecter and Starling calling him and warning him, Pazzi persists in his efforts to capture him. Even after he has positively identified Lecter to Mason Verger's people and is advised that in order to claim his reward he only has to point Lecter out to the waiting kidnappers, he insists on staying involved. Sure enough. . .
103	* TouchOfTheMonster: After Clarice passes out from the gunshot wound in her shoulder, Lecter carries her bridal-style to safety (well, safer than a pen full of flesh-eating pigs, anyway).
104	* TrustMeImADoctor: Inverted in when Lecter is talking to Margot about killing Mason; she quickly points out that she could never trust him to do it, and he counters by saying that she can trust him to not deny he'd done it. [[spoiler:Margot ends up killing Mason Verger himself, and Lecter claims credit knowing no-one will question this.]]
105	* TurnInYourBadge: A subversion. Clarice is suspended after the botched drugs raid, despite following procedures correctly, because the Bureau wants a scapegoat. She's later framed by Krendler (who's being paid by Verger) when she gets too close to tracking down Lector.
106	* UndressingTheUnconscious: Clarice is rendered unconscious by a gunshot wound and wakes up wearing [[GoGoEnslavement an evening gown instead of the casual clothes she was wearing earlier]]. Which never happened in the ''book'' — Clarice isn't shot with a gun, but a tranquilizer dart, and although she does end up wearing the evening gown, she's allowed to put it on without Lecter being in the room. Nor does Lecter ever undress her, except to tend her injuries.
107	* VillainHasAPoint: After being suspended from duty, Clarice has a brief WhatYouAreInTheDark moment: having met Mason Verger, she ''might'' be willing to let him get away with having Lecter privately murdered - ''"he had a grievance"'' - but Mason plans to have Lecter tortured and mutilated, and [[EveryoneHasStandards that she can't let slide.]]
108	* VillainBall: Lecter's genius and financial resources could ensure he will never be captured again. However, he repeatedly exposes himself to capture by drawing attention to himself, and it [[spoiler:nearly gets him killed.]] According to Clarice, this character flaw is what got him captured the first time, building on Jack Crawford's previous assessment that his need to prove his vast intellectual superiority is his one true weakness.
109	-->'''Starling:''' It's whimsy. It's ''whimsy'', and it's what got him caught the first time.
110	* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: While he is being secured to a rack, Hannibal Lecter casually informs his captor, ''"your little brother must smell worse than you do by now; he shit when I cut him."''
111	* WritersCannotDoMath: ''The Silence of the Lambs'' took place in 1983 (Lecter was captured by Will Graham in 1975 and has been locked up for eight years when the previous novel takes place), ''Hannibal'' is mentioned to take place seven years later, which would place it in 1990. However, reference is made to the Waco siege, which took place in 1993, and several places reference is made to the Clinton impeachment, which took place in 1999.
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Context Literature / Hannibal