10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Hannibal Lecter

After escaping from The Baltimore State Hospital For The Criminally Insane, Lecter goes on the run, departing his home in the USA and returning to his native Europe, specifically Florence, Italy.

To prevent his detection by Interpol and other European agencies working with the FBI, Lecter performs several cosmetic surgeries on himself to alter his physical appearance. While this seems like an extraordinary feat, bear in mind that not only is Lecter considered a genius with a mental agility far in excess of the average person ,but that he was at one point in his career a celebrated medical surgeon.

Before his arrival in Florence, Harris writes that Lecter had altered his facial appearance and removed the sixth finger (a feature of those with polydactyly), leaving only his nose intact. As Lecter has an almost superhuman sense of smell ("That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court Will..."), this would be an obvious feature to leave unaltered and one that would continue to provide Lecter an advantage in his continued killing spree, seven years after his escape from Baltimore.

The makers of the TV show and all the movies would, however, decide to omit this interesting storyline for rather obvious reasons - Anthony Hopkins and Mads Mikkelsen had by this point become the faces of Hannibal Lecter and altering that might have had an impact on the success of the projects.