Hannibal Lecter is one of the most memorable characters of all time, and NBC’s 3-season series Hannibal was an exciting, fresh look at what life might have been like for Hannibal before he was behind bars. The operatic arcs that Hannibal’s friends, clients, and meals went through on the series really showed what they were made of.
Although cannibalism is also frowned on in the wizarding world, Hannibal characters can still be sorted into their Hogwarts houses.
Beverly Katz: Gryffindor
Beverly Katz, a key member of Jack Crawford’s investigation team and one of the few people willing to try to befriend the erratic Will Graham, is a Gryffindor through and through. Her friendly manner and irreverent jokes would fit right in with the Weasley clan, but it’s her tendency to rush to the front lines of every situation that really marks her as a lion.
Unfortunately, like many Gryffindors, her bravery often precludes careful planning. Indeed, Beverly’s brave impulses led to her sad fate.
Jimmy Price: Ravenclaw
Jimmy Price lives for obscure forensic phenomena. He’s more interested in fingerprints dissolved by long exposure to pineapple or the texture of the human eye than in making people around him comfortable.
Sure, Jimmy is one of the good guys and puts his more-than-slightly morbid knowledge to work for the protection of others, but for Jimmy, the knowledge and the thrill of the puzzle comes first and the protection second. This clear and pure love for knowledge marks Jimmy out as a Ravenclaw.
Bedelia DuMaurier: Ravenclaw
Bedelia DuMaurier, Hannibal Lecter’s sometimes-therapist, sometimes-companion, was always playing a dangerous game. She was smart enough to see much of the person inside the person-suit, and fascinated enough by the rare quality of the psyche presented to her to keep coming back.
Over the course of time, it became clear that Bedelia’s healthy sense of self-preservation motivated some of her behavior toward Hannibal, but a genuine fascination for their constant and emotionally-removed game of chess kept her coming back. She is even willing to engage in a modified version of the game with Will Graham. While Bedelia’s penchant for sneaking and not-so-hidden capacity for violence would set her up well in Slytherin, the essentially intellectual quality of her motivations makes Ravenclaw the best fit for her.
Abigail Hobbs: Slytherin
Poor Abigail Hobbs’ house was predetermined for her. Like any good Malfoy or Goyle, the influence of an overbearing parent’s worldview was so strong that it could not help but set the child’s course.
Abigail was forced to learn to manipulate, make power alliances, and prioritize survival by her birth father Garrett Jacob Hobbs. After Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham took over parental duties, her course was further reinforced. Abigail Hobbs is a paradigmatic Slytherin.
Freddie Lounds: Slytherin
At first blush, Freddie Lounds’ relentless quest for knowledge seems to mark her out as a Ravenclaw, and indeed she would have done well there. However, Freddie doesn’t just seek knowledge for Tattlecrime: she seeks access, and to maintain her position as the very finest source of true crime news.
Freddie is willing and able to use whatever tools she has at her disposal to influence others to get what she wants. Sometimes that’s a good poker face and a plausible, if entirely falsified, backstory; sometimes it’s a relationship; sometimes it’s just good old-fashioned legwork. Freddie’s resourcefulness and unashamed jockeying for access and position set her up well as an ambitious Slytherin.
Frederick Chilton: Slytherin
Speaking of ambitious, prone to jockeying for position, and no qualms about manipulation in the service of his goals, state hospital administrator Frederick Chilton is totally shameless in his pursuit of fame, fortune, and a good book deal. Frederick longed for access to Will Graham in the hopes of burnishing his academic credentials. Even after a series of horrifying run-ins with the Chesapeake Ripper and various pretenders to the title, Frederick still tired to pull power plays against a jailed Hannibal Lecter.
Frederick may have been roundly overmatched in his various battles of wits, but he still tried constantly to engage in them. He might not be much of a credit to the house, but Frederick is definitely a Slytherin.
Margot Verger: Slytherin
Sometimes, cunning and ambition can be a state of mind. In another world with a better brother, Margot Verger might have belonged to a different house. Margot learned to make alliances, keep her own counsel, and take her opportunities where she can find them very early and definitely the hard way.
Margot’s ability to see the lines of power in any situation and use them to stay alive and carve out her own measure of happiness is the kind of cunning we can all get behind. Her ambition – to live a decent life, hopefully with a child, definitely free from her brother? That’s easy to get behind, too. Margot reflects well on Slytherin House.
Jack Crawford: Gryffindor
Jack Crawford, played by The Matrix’s Lawrence Fishburne, is an outsize example of Gryffindor’s very worst qualities, and its very best. Jack’s belief that he can, and must, protect the whole of society at all costs seems admirable. However, Jack is repeatedly unable to interrogate his belief that any problem can and should be overcome by main force and a sense of mission.
He hopes and expects that those he considers part of his fighting forces can overcome any problem – including serious challenges to their mental and physical health – to fight the crucial fight. Jack’s goal-driven optimism is repeatedly, heartily disproven, and yet Jack’s actions never change. He treats agents like Will Graham or Miriam Lass as soldiers and not as people. His belief that this time Will can power through the maze of his own mind beggars belief after failing for the second, third, fourth, the endless times. And yet, Jack’s tactics stop many crimes and save many lives. It’s hard not to think of Dumbledore’s plans and tactics when looking at Jack Crawford. The cost is high, the rewards are high, and the tactics aren’t subtle; that’s Gryffindor through and through.
Will Graham: Gryffindor
Will Graham, like Harry Potter, would have done wonderfully in Slytherin. Like Dumbledore, Will is willing to use Slytherin tactics to achieve a distinctly Gryffindor set of goals. Combine with his bravery in unleashing predictable consequences on himself time after time, Will is ultimately best understood as a troubled Gryffindor.
The series picks up with Will, marginally functional, allowing himself to be bullied into participating in the hunt for a serial killer by the forcefully persuasive Jack Crawford. Will pushes himself to participate in investigations because he wants to save people, even though it is clear that this course of action is damaging Will, perhaps beyond repair. This period of time is the clearest indication of who will is, at base, before his motives and actions become entangled with a desire for revenge against and affection for Hannibal Lecter. Will’s plain desire to save the world from killers – including himself – and his brave, futile efforts to do it mark him out as a Gryffindor.
Hannibal Lecter: Slytherin
Hannibal Lecter, brilliantly portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen, often seems to have the soul of a Ravenclaw. He enjoys luxuriating in the mathematical perfection of opera and theremin music. He devotes himself to study of the classics and takes care to surround himself with an intellectualized version of beauty. But Hannibal’s tactics are pure Slytherin.
Though many viewers and former patients might disagree, Hannibal sought earnestly to assist his therapeutic clients. His method of doing so, however, was to withhold information, select the vulnerable, and apply his position of authority and intelligence in service of manipulation. Even though he genuinely believed that bringing out select clients’ inner murderer would be beneficial to them, Hannibal was not taking votes on what the end result should be. And, needless to say, Hannibal’s long and varied career as a murderer inflects his house choice.
Next: 8 Best Roles Mads Mikkelsen Has Taken On (Besides Hannibal)
