Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a character in a series of suspense novels by Thomas Harris. Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon as a forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The novel and its sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, feature Lecter as one of the primary antagonists after the two serial killers in both novels. In the third novel, Hannibal, Lecter becomes a protagonist.
Character overview
Red Dragon firmly states that Lecter does not fit any known psychological profile. In The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter's keeper, Dr. Frederick Chilton, claims that Lecter is a "pure sociopath" ("pure psychopath" in the film adaptation). In the novel Red Dragon, protagonist Will Graham says that Lecter has no conscience and tortured animals as a child, but does not exhibit any other of the criteria traditionally associated with psychopathy; Graham explains that psychiatrists refer to Lecter as a sociopath because "they don't know what else to call him". In the film adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, protagonist Clarice Starling says of Lecter, "They don't have a name for what he is." In the novel The Silence of the Lambs, Barney Matthews, an orderly at the facility where Lecter is imprisoned, claims that the only thing Lecter fears is boredom.  Lecter's pathology is explored in greater detail in Hannibal and Hannibal Rising, which explains that he was traumatized as a child in Lithuania in 1944 when he witnessed the murder and cannibalism of his beloved sister, Mischa, by a group of deserting Lithuanian Hilfswillige, one of whom claimed that Lecter unwillingly ate his sister as well.  All media in which Lecter appears portray him as intellectually brilliant, cultured and sophisticated, with refined tastes in art, music and cuisine. He is frequently depicted preparing gourmet meals from his victims' flesh, the most famous example being his admission that he once ate a census taker's liver "with some fava beans and a nice Chianti" (a "big Amarone" in the novel). He is well-educated in Anatomy, Chemistry and Physics and also speaks several languages, including Italian, German, Russian, Polish, French, Spanish, and, to some extent, Japanese. He is deeply offended by rudeness, and frequently kills people who have bad manners. Prior to his capture and imprisonment, he was a member of Baltimore, Maryland's social elite, and a sitting member of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra's board of directors.  In The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter is described through Starling's eyes: "small, sleek, and in his hands and arms she saw wiry strength like her own". The novel also reveals that Lecter's left hand has a condition called mid ray duplication polydactyly, i.e. a duplicated middle finger. In Hannibal, he performs plastic surgery on his own face on several occasions, and removes his extra digit. Lecter's eyes are a shade of maroon, and reflect the light in "pinpoints of red". He has small white teeth and dark, slicked-back hair with a widow's peak. He also has a keen sense of smell; in The Silence of the Lambs, he is able to identify through a plexiglass window with small holes the brand of perfume that Starling wore the day before. At one point, when Hannibal points out Clarice must have gotten a bruise lately, she suddenly remembers she has a band-aid on her covered leg, so she assumes he must have smelled it. He has an eidetic memory with which he has constructed in his mind an elaborate "memory palace" with which he relives memories and sensations in rich detail.

Q: What was Hannibal like?
A: Red Dragon firmly states that Lecter does not fit any known psychological profile.

Q: What was his personality like?
A: intellectually brilliant, cultured and sophisticated,

Q: How did people percieve him?
A: ). He is well-educated

Q: Are there any other interesing aspects about this article?
A: he was traumatized as a child in Lithuania in 1944

Q: How was he traumatized?
A: he witnessed the murder and cannibalism of his beloved sister,
Who did it?
a group of deserting Lithuanian Hilfswillige, one of whom claimed that Lecter unwillingly ate his sister as well.
a group of deserting Lithuanian Hilfswillige, one of whom claimed that Lecter unwillingly ate his sister as well.