Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal Lecter was born in Lithuania to Count Lecter, a Lithuanian aristocrat and Simonetta Sforza-Lecter, an Italian mother. Orphaned at a young age, Hannibal became something of a father figure to his younger sister Mischa, after their parents died. Mischa was one of the few people in his life that Hannibal would ever truly love, caring about her so much that he denied his early homicidal tendencies for her. Under unknown circumstances, Mischa was killed and Hannibal ate her remains as a way of forgiving her for making him deny his true self. At the age of 16, he was adopted by his uncle Robertus and his aunt, Lady Murasaki.

Hannibal came to America after receiving an Internship at John’s Hopkins medical school because of his drawings. Hannibal studied to become an M.D but eventually chose to leave the field of medicine in favor of becoming a psychiatrist. Hannibal used his position of power to persuade some of his more susceptible patients into committing murders, mostly because he was curious to see what would happen. Hannibal also continued killing people, preferring to kill those he deemed as ”rude” because they were no better than “pigs” to him. Hannibal became known as the Chesapeake Ripper, a serial killer that would mutilate his victims while they were alive and surgically remove their organs so he could cook them, preferably when he was hosting a dinner party.

He despises banality and has an acute love of fine arts, food, literature, and music. He is depicted as a man of taste and details, and a nearly-obsessive perfectionist. He takes an instant dislike to "rude" people, such as Fredricka Lounds. Hannibal is very particular about what he eats, most of his meals are self-prepared. He claimed once that he does not believe in cruelty to animals and only purchases meat from ethical butchers, although this may have just been an abstruse joke about his true appetite. While talking with Abel Gideon, Hannibal noted that he did not consider himself a 'cannibal' as that implied eating one's equals, reflecting his usual standards of only eating those he considers inferior in some regard while leaving those he respects relatively alone.

He has a very good sense of smell, evident in how he often identifies Will by his aftershave before he even enters the room. He claims that when he was younger, he was aware of his teacher's stomach cancer, even before he was.