Title: inside [the] m.i.n.d [of a] M A DM A N
ITMOAM Admin - February 20, 2007 05:24 AM (GMT)
1933 - Lithuania
Hannibal Lecter was born on a cold winter night to a wealthy aristocratic family; his father, simply known as Count Lecter, was a descendant of the warlord "Hannibal the Grim" who defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald, in 1410, while his mother, Madame Simonetta Sforza, descended from both the Visconti and Sforza families who separately ruled Milan for a total of 250 years. He is the eighth in his blood-line to bear his ancestor's forename. Lecter had a generally normal childhood, but he unfortunately didn't see his parents much.
1939 -
When Lecter was six years old, he was introduced to his sister, Mischa, who was born in 1939. The two formed a strong, affectionate bond.
1942-
When he was nine, his family left their estate to live in a lodge in the forest in order to escape Hitler's Blitzkrieg. Three years later, his parents, tutor, and family retainers died by a German bomber attempting to disabled a Soviet tank. The lodge was invaded by a group of former Lithuanian collaborators turned looters. Lecter, Mischa, and other local children were rounded up by the looters to be used as food during the cold Baltic winter. Mischa was cannibalized, but Lecter escaped, only to be severely traumatized by his sister's death and was rendered mute. Mischa's death would haunt Lecter for the rest of his life; it destroyed his faith in God, and thereafter he believed that there was no real justice in the world. After the looters fled, he wandered the forests until he was found by a tank crew. The soldiers cut the shackle from his neck, which had stripped away pieces of his skin, leaving a scar that would never truly heal. The Soviets returned Lecter to his family's castle, which had been converted into an orphanage. The war had many lasting effects on the children, and many of them became bullies. While living there, he frequently attacked and severely wounded many of his fellow orphans, but only those who bullied, hurt or insulted others. Lecter called on his memories of the leader of the group of looters, Vladis Grutas, to inspire the anger necessary to hurt the bullies. He was well-behaved around the younger orphans, often letting them tease him a little, letting them believe him to be a crazed deaf-mute, and giving them his treats that he rarely received.
1946 - France
When Lecter was 13 years old, his uncle brought him to his home. He formed a close relationship to his aunt, the Lady Murasaki, with whom he instantly fell in love. He was educated at home on his uncle's estate on the banks of the Essonne; his uncle encouraged him to take-up painting while his aunt taught him aspects of Japanese culture. Still mute and disturbed by his sister's death, he saw the psychiatrist, Doctor Rufin. He attacked a local butcher, Paul Momund, in retaliation for an obscene insult to his aunt. Robert Lecter, his uncle, died from a heart attack during a further confrontation with Momund. An enraged Lecter then committed his first murder, slashing Momund with a Tant? that had belonged to his aunt's samurai ancestor, Date Masamune. He then beheaded Momund and, after receiving a tip from his aunt's chef whilst they prepared a fish, sliced off his victim's cheeks and ate them, his first willful act of cannibalism. He then presented the decapitated head to Masamune. The murder brought Lecter to the attention of Inspector Pascal Popil, who intuitively grasped that he was guilty and pressed him to confess. Lecter proved impenetrable, however, even passing a lie-detector test; thanks to Lady Murasaki's intervention, he escaped any blame. Following her husband's death, Lady Murasaki moved to a flat in Paris, where Lecter attended a boarding school. Popil, who was fascinated by both Lecter and Lady Murasaki, remained in close contact with them.
1949 -
Lecter excelled at the Lycée and graduated early, becoming the youngest person admitted to a medical school in France, where he was mentored by a Doctor Dumas. He had been alerted to the survival of the Totenkopfs who had held him prisoner, when he found a painting looted from his father's collection on sale in a Paris gallery.
1951 - Lithunia
He returned to Lithuania and the scene of his sister's murder. He excavated the ruins of the lodge where his family died, and upon finding Mischa's remains, he gave her a proper burial. He also unearthed the dog-tags of the group of deserters who had killed her. One member of the group, Enrikas Dortlich, now an officer in the Soviet Border Guards, arrived at the scene intent on killing Lecter. Lecter, however, was not caught off guard and instead murdered Dortlich. Once again, Lecter consumed his victim's cheeks. Dortlich's murder put the group in alert and, due to the similarity of Lecter's first murder, placed him under renewed suspicion from Popil. Grutas dispatched a second member of the group, Zigmas Milko, to eliminate the problem by either bribing Lecter or killing him. Lecter killed Milko instead, drowning him in formaldehyde. Both Popil and Lady Murasaki try to dissuade him from hunting the gang. During a confrontation with Lady Murasaki, Lecter almost had sex with her, but relented at the last minute, claiming he had made a promise to Mischa. He attacked Grutas in his home but Grutas was rescued by his bodyguards. Grutas kidnapped Lady Murasaki and used her as a lure to draw Lecter to his death. Lecter, donning the Tant?, tracked Grutas to his houseboat. In a final confrontation, Grutas claimed that Lecter too had consumed his sister in broth fed to him by the soldiers, and it was to keep this fact secret that he was killing them. Enraged, Lecter eviscerated him by repeatedly carving his sister's initial into his body. Lady Murasaki was disturbed by his behavior and fled from him even after he told her that he loved her.
1952 - France
Popil arrested Lecter for the murders, but there was little incentive for a trial; no evidence could be conclusively tied to him, and all the victims had been slavers and war criminals. His victims' association with the Nazis led Lecter to become something of a cause celebre in France, with communists and students marching for his release. Lady Murasaki visited him one last time while he was being held by the police, and saw that he had become completely emotionless. After receiving references from Doctor Dumas and from the head of the Police Forensic Laboratory, for whom he has worked as a volunteer, Lecter was released. He left France, killing the final member of the group, Bronys Grentz, while on a vacation in Montreal, before returning to his internship in Baltimore.
1953 - Maryland
Lecter's drawings led to an internship at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland,where he graduated with a degree in medicine and eventually settled. He became a leading figure in Baltimore society and indulged his extravagant tastes, which he financed by influencing some of his patients to bequeath him large sums of money in their wills. He became world-renowned as a brilliant clinical psychiatrist, but he had nothing but disdain for psychology.
1957 (Now) -
Lecter recently established his own psychology office, now well known, not for his suspected murders, but for his medical theories. But the police is picking up recent murders as odd and vaugely familiar to similar murders years ago in France. But one particular investigator, Maxwell Barien, has a hunch, but no one has any idea how correct that analysis may be. Meanwhile, Lecter himself is feeling the heat, he knows what he has done, not that it bothers him as he sleeps at night. In his care recently is the daughter of the owner of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Madeleine Williamson. She intrigued him and he enjoyed talking with her, learning about her past and everything about her. But what does the furutre hold? Will Lecter be caught, or will an affectionate bond form between Madalaine and himself?
It's up to you Inside the Mind of a Madman.