Francis Dolarhyde is a fictional character and the main
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
of
Thomas Harris
William Thomas Harris III (born 1940/1941) is an American writer, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter. The majority of his works have been adapted into films and television, the most notab ...
' 1981 novel ''
Red Dragon'',
[ as well as its film adaptations, '' Manhunter'' and '' Red Dragon''.
Dolarhyde is a ]serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
who murders entire families by methods which include gunshots, throat cutting and strangulation. He is nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy" due to the nocturnal nature of his crimes, his tendency to bite his victims' bodies, the uncommon size and sharpness of his teeth and other apparent oral fixations. He kills at the behest of an alternate personality; he refers to his other self as "The Great Red Dragon" after William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
's painting '' The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun''. He believes that killing people—or "changing" them, as he calls it—allows him to more fully "become" the Dragon.
Character history
Dolarhyde's backstory is supplied in the novel in detail and alluded to in the film adaptations. Born in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
on June 14, 1938 with a cleft lip and palate
A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...
, he is abandoned by his mother and cared for in an orphanage until the age of five. He is then taken in by his grandmother, who subjects him to severe emotional and physical abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
, culminating in an incident in which she forces him to watch as she pinches his penis between the blades of a pair of scissors after he wet his bed and threatens to "cut it off" should he wet the bed again. Shortly afterwards, he begins torturing animals. After his grandmother becomes afflicted with dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
, Dolarhyde is turned over to the care of his estranged mother and her husband in St. Louis; he is further abused by this family. After his step-siblings smash his face into a bathroom mirror, Dolarhyde hangs his step-sister's cat and is sent back to the orphanage. After being caught breaking into a house at age 17, he enlists in the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
rather than serve prison time. While on his tour in Japan and neighboring countries, he learns how to develop film and receives cosmetic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
for his cleft palate.
After his honorable discharge, Dolarhyde gets a job with the Gateway Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, as the production chief of their home movies division. He also takes up bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...
and becomes exceptionally strong; it is mentioned in the novel that even in middle age, Dolarhyde could have successfully competed in regional bodybuilding competitions, and at one point successfully cleans and presses 300 pounds (which approaches record-setting status for the late 1970s).
In his early 40s, Dolarhyde sees the William Blake painting ''The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun'', which gives voice to his alternate personality. Under the influence of "The Red Dragon", Dolarhyde murders two families in two months, on or near a full moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
. Dolarhyde chooses his victims through the home movies that he edits as a film processing technician. In the days leading up to a full moon, Dolarhyde kills or injures the family pet and then spends nights in their backyard, watching the moon. On the night of the full moon, Dolarhyde uses various methods to gain entry to the homes, then shoots his victims or slits their throats in their beds before ritualistically posing them around the master bed and engaging in necrophilic acts with the mothers' corpses. He also implants shards of mirror glass into his victims' eyes so he can see his own "transformation" into the Dragon. Dolarhyde believes that he is subjecting his victims to a process called "changing" which is beneficial to them in addition to helping him "become" the Dragon.
To facilitate the process of "becoming", Dolarhyde previously traveled to Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in order to have a rendering of the Blake dragon tattooed across his back and has two sets of false teeth
Dentures (also known as false teeth) are prosthetic devices constructed to replace missing teeth, and are supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable (removable partial denture or ...
made. One set is normal for his day-to-day life, while the other – based on a mold of his grandmother's deformed teeth – is ritualistically incorporated into the dragon persona he assumes during his killings. Due to the nocturnal nature of the murders and Dolarhyde's tendency to bite the corpses of his victims with the malformed dentures, the tabloid ''The National Tattler'' nicknames him "The Tooth Fairy", a monicker he hates.
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
profiler Will Graham is asked to return from early retirement to aid in his capture. Graham had previously captured Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...
, a psychiatrist and cannibalistic
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species
In biology, a species is the basic ...
serial killer whom Dolarhyde idolizes, and to whom he sends a "fan letter" describing his murders. Graham visits Lecter in the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for the Criminally Insane, hoping that the doctor would be able to help identify the killer or at least assist in creating a psychological profile. Following this meeting, Lecter "helps" by sending Dolarhyde Graham's address in code with the note, "Save yourself – kill them all." FBI Agent-in-Charge Jack Crawford intercepts the message in time to warn Graham's family and the local sheriff.
Dolarhyde becomes obsessed with coverage of his murders in ''The National Tattler'' and collects clippings about Lecter's arrest and trial, about Graham, and about his own murders. In an attempt to provoke Dolarhyde out of hiding, Graham gives an interview to Freddy Lounds
Frederick "Freddy" Lounds (or Fredrica "Freddie" Lounds in the ''Hannibal'' TV series) is a fictional character in the ''Hannibal Lecter'' series, created by author Thomas Harris. Lounds first appears in the 1981 novel '' Red Dragon'' as a foil to ...
of ''The Tattler'', in which he says that "The Tooth Fairy" is impotent
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...
, homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
, and possibly the product of incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...
; he also implies that Lecter is offended that the killer considers himself Lecter's equal. The interview enrages Dolarhyde, who kidnaps Lounds, glues him to an antique wheelchair, intimidates him into recanting his article on tape, and then bites his lips off. Dolarhyde then sets Lounds on fire and rolls him down an incline into ''The Tattler''s parking garage.
Meanwhile, Dolarhyde falls in love with a blind co-worker named Reba McClane. The relationship initially quells his murderous impulses, but her presence only infuriates the other part of Dolarhyde's psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
. Desperate now to retain control of himself, Dolarhyde flies to New York, where he goes to see the original Blake watercolor at the Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
and devours it, believing that doing so would destroy the Dragon. This plan fails, though, as his ingestion of the painting only makes the Dragon angrier. In a final effort to save McClane, Dolarhyde attempts to kill himself in a motel bathroom by hanging himself from the shower rod, but the noose breaks before he can successfully suffocate.
The FBI and police investigations have so far found little result as the next full moon, and murders, are approaching. Trace evidence has led to dead ends, the killer's partial fingerprint has no match on file, and authorities can find no connection between the families. Eventually Graham realizes that the killer must have had access to the families' home movies, using details from the film to plan entry to the family homes. Both families' film was processed at the same facility. From this fact, police eventually narrow down on Dolarhyde as the suspect.
Now completely under the thrall of the Dragon and aware of the investigation closing in on him, Dolarhyde plans to kill McClane and himself by setting his house on fire with her in it. He relents at the last minute, however, and frees her. Hearing a shotgun blast, McClane feels around Dolarhyde's burning living room and discovers what appears to be his dead body, which is incinerated in the subsequent blaze. However, Dolarhyde actually shot the corpse of a gas station attendant who had earlier offended him by leering at McClane, and whom he had kidnapped in order to stage his own disappearance. Police rescue McClane from the burning house. She is badly traumatized by her experience, but Graham reassures her that her influence helped restrain Dolarhyde's murderous impulses, and he deliberately refrained from killing at least two people at the museum.
Based on McClane's testimony and the male corpse in his house with the face ruined by a shotgun blast, he is believed to have killed himself. However, analysis eventually reveals that the corpse's fingerprints don't match prints at the crime scenes. Dolarhyde travels to Graham's home in Florida, attacks Graham and stabs him in the face. Graham's wife Molly intercepts Dolarhyde, however, and shoots him dead.
Film adaptations
In the 1986 adaptation of ''Red Dragon'', '' Manhunter'', Dolarhyde (with his name changed to Dollarhyde) is portrayed by Tom Noonan
Tom Noonan (born April 12, 1951) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter, best known for his roles as Francis Dolarhyde in '' Manhunter'' (1986), Frankenstein's Monster in ''The Monster Squad'' (1987), Cain in ''RoboCop 2'' (1990), The ...
. None of Dolarhyde's backstory appears in the film aside from Graham's assessment that Dolarhyde was abused as a child. His Red Dragon personality and abusive grandmother is not explored, although Dolarhyde does wear a red dragon tattoo on his chest and his writings mention at one point "the strength of the Red Dragon". He also does not steal and consume the painting, and his killing of the co-worker is portrayed as solely from a surge of jealousy, rather than a cunning escape plan. Rather than faking his death after being tracked down, Dolarhyde attempts to kill McClane after supposedly cheating on him, only to be caught up by Graham, who rescues her. He engages in a standoff with the Missouri police and kills several officers with his shotgun before being shot and killed by Graham.
Dolarhyde is portrayed by Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...
in the 2002 film adaptation '' Red Dragon'', which follows the novel more closely although details about his relationship with Reba McClane and his final confrontation with Graham are altered. Unlike the novel, he is portrayed as shy and reclusive but relatively attractive, a fact recognised by McClane as she comments their fellow co-workers "all talk" about him, implying sexual interest. In deleted scenes, Dolarhyde's Great Red Dragon personality is voiced by Frank Langella
Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flori ...
.
Television adaptation
Dolarhyde is portrayed by Richard Armitage in season 3 of the television series ''Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
'', beginning in episode 8, "The Great Red Dragon". Dolarhyde was referenced in the series premiere as the unseen murderer of the Marlowe family.
In this continuity, Dolarhyde and Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, (; born 22 November 1965) is a Danish actor. Originally a gymnast and dancer, he rose to fame in Denmark as an actor for his roles such as Tonny in the first two films of the ''Pusher'' film trilogy (1996, 2004), Det ...
) communicate directly by telephone, and Dolarhyde's inner discussions with the Dragon are instead depicted as therapy sessions with Lecter. In the series finale, "The Wrath of the Lamb", Lecter and Graham (Hugh Dancy
Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the titular character in the television film adaptation of ''David Copperfield'' (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid ...
) kill Dolarhyde together; Graham stabs him, while Lecter bites his throat out.
Inspiration
Harris loosely based Francis Dolarhyde on the serial killer known as "BTK" (Bind, Torture, Kill), who at the time of the book's publication was terrorizing Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
with a series of murders, beginning with the murder of a family in their home. Like Dolarhyde, BTK engaged in necrophilia
Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving Cadaver, corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) ...
c acts with his victims' bodies; he also wrote letters to the police alluding to being under the control of an outside influence, which he referred to as "Factor X". Harris had consulted with FBI Agent John E. Douglas
John Edward Douglas (born ) is an American retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was one of the first criminal profilers and has written books on criminal psychology.
Early life a ...
prior to writing the book, and Douglas had served as a consultant on the BTK case for Kansas police. Harris was so impressed with Douglas that he borrowed aspects of his life story and personality for Will Graham and Jack Crawford.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolarhyde, Francis
American male characters in television
Characters in American novels of the 20th century
Fictional attempted suicides
Fictional bodybuilders
Fictional characters based on real people
Fictional characters from Missouri
Fictional characters who committed familicide
Fictional characters with disfigurements
Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder
Fictional murderers of children
Fictional kidnappers
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional mechanical engineers
Fictional serial killers
Fictional United States Army personnel
Fictional victims of domestic abuse
Hannibal Lecter characters
Horror television characters
Literary characters introduced in 1981
Male literary villains
Male horror film villains
Orphan characters in literature