10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Hannibal Lecter

A concise kill count for Hannibal Lecter has to take into account three sources of media: the films, the novels and of course, the highly imaginative murders in the TV series. While there are obviously many characters who appear in all three mediums, there have been estimates at the numbers, all of which are expectedly high and of course, splendidly gruesome.

Beginning with the novels, the kill count across The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon, and Hannibal Rising is a whopping total of 28 confirmed kills with a further two indirect murders. Next the movies, including Manhunter plus the four 'canon' entries; that stands at 26, with a further three assisted or indirect kills, but the trophy has to go to Mads Mikkelsen and his chilling portrayal of Lecter with a disturbing tally of 62 direct murders and a further 13 indirect or proxy fatalities. There are numerous attempted murders and many other assisted deaths - simply too many to list here.

Lecter's most notable kills across the years include FBI boss Paul Krendler, lobotomised and fed his own brain while alive; Sergeant Pembry, a Baltimore police officer whose face Lecter wears as he escapes a temporary jail; and let's not forget Rinaldo Pazzi, whom Lecter kindly asks "bowels in or bowels out?" before defenestrating him from the Palazzo Vecchio.