19 Facts About Francis Dolarhyde

Francis Dolarhyde is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Thomas Harris' 1981 novel Red Dragon, as well as its film adaptations, Manhunter and Red Dragon.

Francis Dolarhyde is a serial killer who murders entire families by methods which include gunshots, throat cutting and strangulation.

Francis Dolarhyde 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.

Francis Dolarhyde kills at the behest of an alternate personality; he refers to his other self as "The Great Red Dragon" after William Blake's painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun.

Francis Dolarhyde believes that killing people—or "changing" them, as he calls it—allows him to more fully "become" the Dragon.

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Francis Dolarhyde's backstory is supplied in the novel in detail and alluded to in the film adaptations.

Francis Dolarhyde is then taken in by his grandmother, who subjects him to severe emotional and physical abuse, 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.

Francis Dolarhyde takes up bodybuilding 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 .

Francis Dolarhyde chooses his victims through the home movies that he edits as a film processing technician.

Francis 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.

Francis 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.

Meanwhile, Francis Dolarhyde falls in love with a blind co-worker named Reba McClane.

However, Francis 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.

Francis Dolarhyde's 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.

None of Francis Dolarhyde's backstory appears in the film aside from Graham's assessment that Francis Dolarhyde was abused as a child.

Francis Dolarhyde engages in a standoff with the Missouri police and kills several officers with his shotgun before being shot and killed by Graham.

Francis Dolarhyde is portrayed by Ralph Fiennes 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.

Francis Dolarhyde is portrayed by Richard Armitage in season 3 of the television series Hannibal, beginning in episode 8, "The Great Red Dragon".

Francis Dolarhyde was referenced in the series premiere as the unseen murderer of the Marlowe family.