Red dragon

The Red Dragon is the national flag of Wales.

Synopsis

Graham, who tracked down and captured Lecter, nearly getting killed in the process, is called out of retirement to help track down a serial killer known as "The Tooth Fairy" who has ritualistically murdered two families. He turns to Lecter for help, but discovers that Lecter is manipulating not only him but also the man he is hunting. The relationship between Lecter and Graham parallels the relationship between Lecter and Clarice Starling in the later books, but has very different overtones. Lecter treats Starling as an unworthy student but Graham as a fellow professional (though not an equal).

Related Topics:
Ritual - Clarice Starling

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The main complication in the investigation is Freddie Lounds, a tabloid reporter who once ran afoul of Graham during the Lecter case and now is dogging him to get the story on the Tooth Fairy. Dolarhyde, an avid reader of Lounds' paper, The National Tattler, is displeased with what Lounds writes about him and brutally murders him as a message to the police.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dolarhyde, who was made into a psychopath by years of abuse from his insane grandmother, falls in love with a blind coworker, Reba McLane. His newfound love conflicts with his homicidal urges, which manifest themselves in his mind as a separate personality he calls "The Great Red Dragon," after the Blake painting. Pretending he is a researcher into a patron of William Blake's, Dolarhyde enters a New York museum and consumes the original Blake watercolour of The Red Dragon that is stored there, thinking that if he consumes the Dragon, he can stop killing and pursue a normal relationship with McLane.

Related Topics:
Psychopath - Abuse - Blind - Reba McLane - Museum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After Lecter sends Dolarhyde Graham's address in code, endangering his wife and son, Graham becomes obsessed with the case, eventually figuring out that the killer knew how to get into the families' houses from home movies, which he only could have seen if he worked as a film processor, which indeed Dolarhyde does. Sensing he is about to be caught, Dolarhyde goes to see McLane one last time, but finds her talking to another man and becomes enraged. He kills the other man, kidnaps McLane and, having taken her to his grandmother's former house, sets it on fire, apparently intending to kill her, but finds at the last minute that he can't, and (apparently) shoots himself instead. McLane is rescued. Graham is given Dolarhyde's book of writings, which detailed the abuse he went through as well as the killer's obsession with the Blake painting and his admiration of Hannibal Lecter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graham returns home. However Dolarhyde, who it turns out had not shot himself but merely the body of a petrol station attendant with whom he had had a previous confrontation, pursues Graham to his home, attacks Graham's family and stabs Will in the face. In a twist, Graham uses the same terms that Dolarhyde's grandmother had used against him (eg. "dirty little pig", threatening to "cut it off" after noticing his son had wet himself) against his own son, who was at the very hands of the killer at the time. This enraged Dolarhyde, allowing Graham's son to escape to safety (the novel omits this episode). Dolarhyde gains the upper hand and is about to kill Graham when Graham's wife, Molly, shoots him to death. After recovering, Graham receives a mocking letter from Lecter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mann's Manhunter was a very loose adaptation, leaving out Dolarhyde's backstory and having him die at Graham's hands during the fire. Ratner's Red Dragon was overall more faithful to the novel, although it expanded Lecter's role to capitalize on the popularity of Hopkins' interpretation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~